High school Sweetheart
by The Water Drinker
Summary: A high school set story. Follow the trials and tribulations of Yugi and Atem during their junior year as they try desperately to fall in love. Aw, so sweet.
1. Open the gates

_Here it is. The obligatory high school fic, because every aspiring young fanfic author has to have at least one. Stop looking at me like that._

* * *

 _Tick..._

 _Tock..._

 _Tick..._

 _Tock..._

Went the hands of a little, round clock. It was hanging over the head of one of the most monotonous sounding teachers in possibly the entire world.

 _Tick..._

 _Tock..._

Was the damned thing going in slow motion? It certainly felt like it to a young man who let out a weary yawn. He didn't even attempt to stifle it behind his bronzed hand as his eyes scrunched up shut during the audible sign of utter sleepiness and boredom.

 _Tick..._

…

 _Tock..._

Was it just him, or was it getting even more slow the longer he looked at the contraption? He could swear it was taunting him - tormenting him with its little black hands. He lifted his arm to put his elbow on his desk. He then placed his chin in his open palm, and tried to keep his half-lidded eyes from closing completely. Almost nodding off had him jerking back into reality when his head almost slipped out of his hand.

"Atem?" A voice called out over the several desks with students seated precariously in their chairs. They were likely under the same spell as the boy himself was if the vacant expressions on their faces were any indication. "Answer the question, please."

"...no thank you." He mumbled incoherently into his palm as his eyes began to close again.

" _Atem?_ "

Oh right, that was _his_ name. Wait, where was he? His eyes opened slowly - bleary and unfocused. He blinked away the remnants of weariness, and looked up in a bit of daze. He noticed everyone was looking at him now. Their faces turned to look over their shoulders. Atem raised his hand to his face and felt something wet at the side of his mouth. Had he been drooling?

"Huh?" He asked oh so eloquently.

"The question, do answer it today." Came his teacher's sardonic reply.

That's right, he was in class. It was the dreaded day of Monday. The day that started the week of every teenager of Domino High with prolonged boredom and suffering. His eyes scanned over the faces of the students who watched him expectantly while they waited for his reply so as to continue on with the boring lecture. He saw the blue eyes of his long time, best friend Seto. He was staring at him out of the corner of his eyes. His brown hair neatly combed and his school uniform completely wrinkle free. Such a control freak. The boy frowned at him as if he had heard his thoughts.

His eyes moved on. They next landed on another one of his friends. A blond haired boy by the name of Marik. He was grinning at him haughtily while snickering quietly at Atem's misfortune. Atem had to resist the urge to flip the guy off.

Moving right along then. His eyes next landed on a brown haired boy with brown eyes. Tristan was his name if his memory served him right. He looked bored out of his mind as he glared over at another boy who had fallen on his shoulder. Atem looked over at the other who had fallen over. Another blond haired boy, but his was darker and messy. What was that kid's name again? John or Joe. Something like that. He looked about as tired as Atem felt as he heard the boy start to snore. There wasn't much he really knew about him. The only thing he really knew was that he was... That he was... The best friend of-

"Yugi, would you be so kind as to help Atem with his sudden lapse in memory?" The teacher interrupted his thoughts. A cute, boyish chuckle reached Atem's ears as his eyes moved past the Joe guy to stare at the face of Yugi Muto. A honor roll student. Class representative, vice president of the chess club and most importantly... the boy he found himself hopelessly infatuated with. As their eyes met, Atem only then realized he had made a fool of himself just moments earlier. He felt his cheeks flush ever so slightly, and raised his hand to cough into it in an attempt to cover it up. Yugi blushed cutely at being caught staring, and turned back around to address the previously forgotten teacher.

"Uhm, sure."

Hearing Yugi's voice kept Atem from falling back to sleep throughout the rest of the dull class.

* * *

The class had finally ended for the poor souls that had to sit through the history teacher's arduous lecture. As soon as the bell rang, students had practically flown out of their seats and scrambled out of the door to freedom. They couldn't seemingly get there fast enough. Yugi took his time as he placed his book and notebooks back inside his backpack. He collected his pencils, and placed them inside of a pencil pouch that he put in another compartment of his bag. Always helped to be organized.

"Yuuug', Could ya hurry it up a little? I'm practically growin' a fungus over here." The accent reached his ears as he turned his head to regard his best friend Joey. He gave him a smile.

"I don't doubt it judging by the way you smell." Tristan retorted. The blond glared at the boy while gnashing his teeth together. He raised a fist in warning of his impending beat down if he chose to comment any further. Yugi's smile became a tad sheepish. "Don't go gettin' all up in _my_ face. I couldn't help but smell you with the way you were fallin' all over me." Tristan matched Joey's glare with one of his own. The other boy faltered slightly at the mention of his previous actions.

"I'll be just a minute." Yugi told them. He stacked the last bit of papers that was the homework neatly so he could turn them in. After zipping up his bag and placing it over his shoulders, he turned to his two friends. "You guys finish the homework for today?" He asked, interrupting the two from their heated glaring contest. Joey and Tristan glanced at Yugi before they shoved their hands in their pockets and looked around the room with contrite expressions. Yugi shook his head, but smiled all the same. "You guys are going to fail at this rate." Tristan at least had the decency to make an attempt at an excuse.

"I did it! I just don't have it with me." He replied as if that made everything better. A voice caught the three's attention before they said anything else.

"You could always say your dog ate it." It was an arrogant sounding voice with a thick layer of cockiness that practically oozed, _"Respect me, filthy peasants."_ The three turned to see Seto Kaiba standing somewhat away from them with a sanctimonious smirk upon his face.

Tristan looked at him with a confused expression. "I don't have a dog."

"Of course you do. He's standing right beside you." Seto replied with a sneer as he stalked off out of the open classroom door. Yugi sighed, but then felt a bit anxious as he turned to look at Joey to see his reaction. It took the boy a moment as Yugi saw the gears turn behind his eyes before the click _._

"That _dick_! Come back here Kaiba! Where's a damn rock when you need one?" Tristan and Yugi had to hold the boy back before he started to rush out of the door after Seto.

"Not worth it, man." Tristan spoke as Joey finally let up in his struggle to run after the entitled, brown haired punk.

"Guy's just scared to say that to my face." Joey spoke disdainfully as he raised his balled fist in example of just what exactly he would have given in return to that smug face of his.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Tristan said as he patted the boy on the shoulder. Joey glared at him pointedly out of the corner of his eyes. Yugi gave him a sympathetic smile, and a nervous chuckle.

"From where I was standing, it looked like he _was_ saying that to your face. You know, with the way he was standing right in front of you and all." A girlish voice could be heard as the owner to it walked up to the trio with a pleasant smile.

"Hi, Tea." Yugi greeted the girl warmly. She was another one of his close friends.

Joey didn't seem to share this sentiment as he crossed his arms and turned his nose up to the girl on her arrival. "Just whose side are you on anyway?" Tea just laughed.

"No, what Joey meant is, Kaiba should say that to his face when Joey actually gets the insult on time. Then he'd really be sorry." Tristan said mockingly as he slung his arm over his friend's shoulder. Joey shrugged him off quickly as if burned by his touch. He swung himself around and got in the brown haired boy's face with his arm raised with a threatening fist.

"You wanna run that by me again?" Yugi rushed over to them and tried to console his best friend before something bad happened.

"You guys. You can't fight in class." He said as he raised his hands to attempt to separate the two.

"It's all right Yug'. His bark is worse than his bite." Tristan said condescendingly with a grin. He almost got choked for the comment as Joey started shaking him by his shirt collar. He managed to keep up with his grin though. Yugi just sighed in defeat and let the two sort their dispute out on their own. He was about to go turn in his homework when the sound of a chair sliding back against the floor of the classroom reached his ears. The sound wasn't exactly foreign, as there were many students getting up to leave the classroom, but Yugi found he couldn't help himself. He turned around to look behind himself to see-

"Atem! Come see me in my office." The addressed boy stretched his arms over his head and let out an exaggerated yawn. Yugi watched the way his muscles moved beneath the dark, sun-kissed skin of his arms during the motion. The boy was so... so _pretty_. Long legs stretched out connected to a slim, lithe waist and torso. Lean pectoral muscles pushed at the fabric of his white, button up undershirt. Up the elegant neck of caramel color to those sharp, focused, crimson eyes. Atem lowered his arms and grabbed the signature blue jacket left previously discarded across the back of his chair. He tossed it over his shoulder and sauntered on over. " _Now._ " Yugi heard their teacher's impatient tone. The boy just shrugged, but didn't speed up his pace. Yugi felt his skin warm up when Atem was nearly about to walk past him. Their eyes met, and Yugi could feel the heat intensify. He couldn't stop the involuntary urge to look away.

"Dorks." He said by way of greeting. It didn't sound particularly scathing, but Yugi wouldn't go so far as to say it was an endearing nickname. The haughty smirk he had aimed at Yugi said that much.

"Hey, keep walkin' punk! We don't need no more rich boy attitude." Joey barked in a snarky way. Atem didn't seem at all bothered by the blond haired boy's retort. He merely chuckled in that deep, rich, velvety voice of his that made a shudder run down Yugi's spine.

"Keep your pet on a leash, Muto." He spoke in a level tone. Not sounding irritated, or overly amused as he walked on with a casual roll of his hips that made him look like he owned the place. Like a king who owned the very air, and everyone else his subjects that were fortunate enough to be allowed to breathe it. Yugi almost said, " _Yes, your Highness,"_ but stopped himself as his brain finally caught up to translate what he had said as an insult to his best friend. He didn't get the chance to reply before Joey was shouting out insults of his own at Atem's back. It wasn't until the other was out of the room did Joey finally let up. Steam practically flowed out of his ears.

"Man, I hate that guy. He's just as bad as Kaiba." The blond said derisively as he crossed his arms over his chest. Yugi felt himself blush slightly and felt a bit shy as he said,

"I don't know. He's not that bad." Joey looked affronted by his best friend's words.

"You kiddin' me? Just look at him. All smug. Man, I'd like to mop the floor with that spiky head o' his." Yugi just gave him another sympathetic smile. He glanced over at the door and almost sighed. He never admitted it to anyone, not even his closest friends, but Yugi had kind of a small, little, eensy weensy crush on the guy. Okay, who was he trying to kid? He had been crushing on Atem since the ninth grade. He thought the infatuation would have died, but now that they were in their Junior year he wasn't sure what to do about his little crush predicament. Not to mention Atem didn't seem at all interested in Yugi or his friends. It was only just this year that he had even acknowledged their presence at all. Yugi looked over at Tea to ask her her opinion on Atem.

"What do you think, Tea?" The addressed girl didn't answer right away. He noticed she had a bit of a zoned out look upon her face. "Tea?" He tried again. The second attempt succeeded as she blinked several times and looked over to the one calling her name.

"Huh? Oh, right. I agree with Yugi. He's not that bad. And he's uh... well he's..." The three boys looked at her quizzically. She blushed slightly before she continued. "He's kinda cute." Joey's face took on a horrified look. He turned around and leaned one arm on his desk.

" _Cute_? Oh man, I think I'm gonna hurl." He clutched at his chest in mock pain. Tea glared at him before she smacked his back roughly. The response reminded her she was surrounded by guys.

"I need some female friends." She said irritably. Joey almost tripped, but caught himself. He stood up and stuck his tongue out at her childishly.

"I say we better go before another one of those punks show up. I don't think poor Joey can take that much more abuse to his self-esteem." Tristan said in an attempt to rile the blond again who turned to face him.

"I dunno what you're talkin' about, Tristan. My self-esteem's back outside where I left it when I decided to hang out with _you_ today." Yugi sensed danger and started to herd his friends out of the classroom in order to hopefully distract them.

"All right, let's go. Lunch is only fifteen minutes away. If we leave right now we'll find some space in your favorite spot guys!" He said as he pushed them towards the door. Tea helped him as she dragged the two by the fronts of their shirts. They didn't seem to be paying much attention, however.

"Woof, woof, woof." Tristan let out as he allowed himself to be forced out of the room. They avoided certain danger when Yugi gave them a shove through the doorway.

As they walked down the hallway with Joey and Tristan giving each other glares that promised nothing but pain, it was then Yugi had a thought. He forgot to hand in his homework.

* * *

Atem sat in a chair in front of his history teacher's desk cluttered with a haphazard display of papers. He was sprawled out on the wooden piece of furniture feeling that insatiable itch of boredom as he couldn't stop the convulsive, restless fidgeting of his leg.

"Atem." He heard his teacher start in blatant irritation. He was glaring at the boy through the lenses of his glasses that shone a bright shine that shielded his eyes when he readjusted them on his nose. Atem wasn't threatened or impressed by his teacher's tone as he looked about the room to find anything that could entertain him long enough to get through this annoying meeting. His teacher noticed this and grunted in dismay. " _Atem._ " He said a little more forcefully. Atem's eyes landed on his teacher's face.

"That is indeed my name." His instructor chose to ignore the underlying pompous tone in his student's voice.

"You do know that this is nearing the twentieth time you've fallen asleep in my class." Atem could start to feel the urge to fidget his other leg. The guy was completely exaggerating. He could swear it was only sixteen.

"And do you also know that you are failing my class?" _Must... suppress... urge... to yawn. Feeling... too strong. Can't... resist._ Atem's mouth opened in such a wide yawn he could feel wetness as it teetered at the corners of his eyes; it felt so good to yawn. He heard his teacher growl before he slammed something down harshly on his desk. This got Atem's attention as he jumped slightly in his seat. He looked up to see his teacher relishing in his small victory at startling the teen.

"Now that I have your undivided attention, might I also remind you that you've been late to my class almost every day. This will not be tolerated, young man. One more time and I _will_ give you a detention." Atem was back to his fidgeting and propped his chin in his palm. Maybe if he nodded occasionally during his instructor's mechanical monologue he wouldn't notice he didn't give a damn. _Oh shoot, he's looking suspicious. Quick, nod!_

"Or if you would like, Atem. I could always inform your father of your misconduct." That _really_ got his attention. Freaking teachers.

"No, not really." Atem said feeling chastised at the mention of his father. The sound of his own voice made him feel like a petulant child. He resisted the urge to pout indignantly.

"That's sir to you." Atem glared at his history instructor.

"No sir." He repeated. The man smirked and sat back in his leather seat.

"That's better. Now, I'm giving you a warning, Atem. One more repeat offense and it'll be your father that hears about it first." Atem gnashed his teeth together in irritation. _Freaking_ teachers. There wasn't much he could do but take the threat. If his father heard about any of this he'd never hear the end of it. The old man was rather strict.

"Yes sir." That stupid smirk intensified.

"Good. You're dismissed." Finally. Atem stood up from the chair and stalked out of the cramped office space.

He had made his way to the cafeteria, and walked through the double doors into the loud chattering of students. His eyes scanned the room until they found their target. Atem shoved his hands into his pockets and stalked off in the direction of his group of friends. Once he had reached their table he plopped himself down next to Seto harshly. He raised his arm to rest his elbow on the table and rested his head in his hand while he glared off into the sea of kids. The group, consisting of Seto, Marik and Isis, weren't surprised by his demeanor. Marik sipped a bit disdainfully at his disgusting cafeteria milk carton before he regarded Atem with a smirk.

"What's got your panties in a bunch?" Atem shifted his glare to Marik.

"When I first walked in I had the most unpleasant misfortune of seeing your face first. I nearly vomited up my breakfast. Then I got a better look and realized, oh, it's only Marik." Marik's smirk turned into a glare of his own.

"Your face..." The rest of his sentence was mumbled under his breath. Isis raised her hand in an attempt to subdue her friend and cousin.

"Children, do behave."

"He started it." Atem mumbled into his palm in a puerile manner. Isis sent him a withering look. Seto hadn't been paying much attention to the rest of them in favor of eating the food he had brought with him from his house. A simple sandwich and a bottle of water. He looked over at Atem's pouting face that was directed down at the table.

"What _is_ your problem anyway? Lose a staring contest with the cafeteria table?" The blue eyed boy spoke before he picked up his bottle of water and took a sip. Atem shot him a glare that clearly read, " _Not you too_." Seto merely shrugged.

"I was forced to talk to that history teacher, if you must know." He was back to glaring at the table as if it was the cause of all his problems.

"Him again? Are you still failing his class?" Seto asked. He didn't really care, but he preferred this to Marik talking about how he was finally growing chest hair which clearly qualified him as being old enough to watch the Motorcycle Diaries without an adult present.

"I'm not _failing_." Atem mumbled.

"Right. You're doing so greeeeat you'd put the Frosted Flakes mascot out of a job." Atem grunted, but didn't attempt to defend himself. Seto just shook his head. "I don't understand why you don't just do the work and pass so the man doesn't have a reason to pester you." Atem sighed in resignation as he turned his attention back on the sea of kids chattering idly with their friends.

"Seto is right, cousin. I don't see why you're torturing yourself with having to visit him constantly." Isis spoke up. Atem spared her a glance to let her know he had heard her before he looked back out to the rest of the people in the crowded cafeteria. He was looking for a particular face.

"I'd be torturing myself more if I subjected myself to having to do his homework everyday. At least this way I only have to hear his grating voice directed at me at the beginning of the week. Then have him ignoring me for the rest of it." He spoke. Still looking for that face. Was he not in here today? Isis noticed her cousin's divided attention and tapped his arm.

"Does uncle know you're failing?" She asked, which had him turning around to look at her with a nervous expression.

"I," He paused. "Haven't told him." He finished sheepishly. She gave him a cross look.

"You know he won't be pleased to find that out. I wouldn't even be surprised if he kicked you out." Atem found himself shrugging at that. He knew his father was strict, and it was a possibility he'd get mad enough to reprimand his son that severely, but he was just that; his son. His only son. He doubted his father would do that even if he wanted to.

"That's okay. If he does, Seto would always be willing to let me move in with him, because he never lets a friend go in need. Right, Seto?" Atem asked sarcastically, and gave the boy beside him a grin. The brown haired boy snorted derisively when he heard that. He didn't even grace the other with his gaze as he spoke,

"Of course. I'll let you sleep in the basement where I keep all of my other unwanted, mooching hobos." Seto took another sip of his water as Marik started to chuckle at the response. Atem gave his friend a mock hopeful expression.

"Is that a yes?"

" _ **No.**_ "

Isis just shook her head.

Atem chuckled in amusement before he went back to searching through the crowd of faces. Maybe the one he was looking for hadn't went to the cafeteria after all. Just as he thought this, a spiky head of multicolored hair caught his keen eyes. There he was, just sitting there talking amicably with his friends with that innocent, infectious smile spread across his cherubesque face. _Yugi_. Oh, how he would love to simply walk over there and whisk the boy away to some secluded spot away from watching eyes where he could do naughty things- Atem's thoughts were interrupted momentarily when the object of his affections suddenly sneezed. He watched as the boy's friend Tea made a knowing smirk and said something that made the other teen blush. How could one individual be so cute? He was the personification of adorable. The paragon of all that is cute. The epitome of pretty.

"Stare at him like that any longer and you might make his head explode." Atem jumped slightly in his seat. He tried to cover up his previous surprise by turning a pointed glare on his best friend. Seto didn't seem threatened in the slightest. He just smirked in that way that said, " _I know all your dirty, little secrets. You can't hide anything from me. I'm Seto freaking Kaiba. I know everything."_

"I don't know what you're talking about. The only person's head I'd stare at long enough in hopes it would explode is Marik's." Atem said as he turned away from his friend with a slight blush that graced his cheeks. An undignified, "Hey!" could be heard around a mouthful of cafeteria food across the table from Marik.

"Uh huh." Was all Seto replied with.

"At least I'm man enough to admit I have a crush on someone to myself." Atem mumbled this to himself under his breath. Seto looked at him sharply before asking,

"What was that?"

"Back in a bit. Gotta piss." Atem spoke with a sudden movement to stand up. As he hurriedly walked out of the cafeteria he heard the voice of Marik shouting out,

"Too much information!" followed shortly by,

"What was that supposed to mean, _Atem?_ " From Seto.

Atem made it out of the cafeteria and sighed. Seto was just too clever for his own good. What business did he have poking into his head anyway? Guy was a hypocrite. He knew Seto's little secret too. The teen had been crushing on a girl that was in some of their classes. Kisara was her name. Though the boy seemed to be completely oblivious to his own feelings. Guess it came with the territory of being a rich, snobbish ass. Atem walked in the direction of the men's bathroom when he came upon a cone on one side of the hall. There was a wet spot there. He almost hadn't noticed it. At least no one would have been around to see if he had slipped. He moved around the spot and continued his trek to the bathroom.

* * *

"W-what do you mean, "that's what they say?"" Yugi asked his friend Tea who was giggling like mad. When he had sneezed she couldn't help but smirk and say, " _You know what that means! Achoo! Someone special's thinking about you! That's what they say._ " The resulting blush from her friend had been totally worth it. She didn't reply to him. Just kept up with her girlish giggling. Yugi gave up with her in favor of eating the rest of his lunch.

Joey and Tristan were still arguing from the previous conversation, and were not even paying attention to anything else around them. They just kept up with their back-and-forth verbal assault. Yugi was just glad it hadn't escalated into a food fight yet. Just as he thought this, however, a carton of milk was hurled about the table and landed right in short boy's lap. The teen jumped as the liquid seeped into his pants and chilled him in all the wrong places. Tea looked over at him in shock at witnessing the event. She turned in a huff towards the offender and slapped him upside his blond head.

"Joey, you klutz! Watch what you're doing!" Joey let out an "Ow!" before he turned his head and noticed the accident he had caused.

"Oh, sorry Yug'." He mumbled, clutching the back of his head. His eyes showed his guilt. He grabbed some napkins and started handing them to his friend. Yugi just waved him off.

"Don't worry about it. I'll go wash it off in the bathroom." He said as he started to stand up. He could feel the milk start to run down his thighs. He felt his brow involuntarily convulse. Joey gave him a nervous grin as Tea looked near about to slap him again.

"Sorry." He said again.

"S'all right. I'll be right back." Yugi said as he wobbled off awkwardly out of the cafeteria as if he'd just crapped himself. Either that or he looked like a gay cowboy. None of his friends could really decide which.

After Yugi had exited the cafeteria, the milk had warmed itself against his skin. It made walking to the bathroom somewhat easier. Still wasn't pleasant, but at least he could make it to the bathroom without getting anymore strange looks. He wasn't really paying much attention to where he was going. Only knew that he was headed in the right direction as he stared down at his soiled shirt. He vaguely remembered hearing the sound of a door opening, and footsteps coming in his direction, but didn't pay it any mind. He didn't even see an orange caution cone until it was a bit too late and found himself skidding along the wet floor. He fell forward most ungracefully against a hard surface. Though, said surface was a bit heavier than he was as it fell in the opposite direction. He braced himself as his back hit the ground with a thud. Whoever slid on the floor along with him tried to break their fall somewhat, and it had caused an interesting effect. Something quite soft hit his lips. Yugi hadn't even noticed he had scrunched his eyes shut during the fall. He opened them slowly, and what he saw shocked him speechless. Though it would have hardly mattered if he did have the courage to speak, because the soft thing that was touching his lips were the lips of another.

Atem's eyes widened in unadulterated surprise. His brain desperately tried to catch up to his body in an attempt to tell it, " _Move! Move now!_ " Though another, more adamant, part of his brain just kept screaming, " _Yugi, Yugi, Yugi, Yugi, Yugi, Yugi, Yugi."_ It was only the sounds of several other feet scuffling about the hallway that had Atem flying off of the boy beneath him to stand up with a pretty intense blush on his tanned face. He looked around and noticed a few shocked faces standing about. Atem felt his face heat up even more to the point it almost felt like he had been placed in a damn furnace. His brain helpfully supplied him with a solution to his dilemma with, " _Kill the witnesses!"_ A soft groan had him looking down at Yugi who had yet to stand up.

He would have helped the boy up, honest. Just that he had looked back up to see the face of Seto Kaiba stalking towards him with an air of indignation. If Seto found out what just happened here, he'd never let him live it down. It had his body going into fight or flight mode which he found flight to be his best option. Atem made an about face and scurried off in the opposite direction leaving Yugi to fend for himself.

Yugi got himself back up into a sitting position. His back smarted a bit, but the damage wasn't too severe at least. He looked up, and down the hallway to see Atem hightailing it around a corner. _Atem_. He just... he just kissed Atem! The sovereign of sexy. The Adonis of the school. He felt himself melt a little inside, but then again... The boy hadn't even tried to help him up. The high faded into embarrassment. He couldn't believe he slipped on a little puddle of water. Now Atem probably thought he was a klutzy weirdo. Yugi stood up on wobbly legs and hurriedly made his way to the bathroom.

* * *

 _Author's note and stuff:_

 _In this story, Marik and Isis aren't related. Marik's sister is still Ishizu. Just that I decided to go canon with it mostly and that would make Ishizu older and thus not be in the same grade. Just saying that so people don't possibly get confused._

 _I'm debating with myself over whether or not I should give Atem a last name, or just skirt around it._

 _Anyway, if you happen to notice a mistake, feel free to let me know._

 _Also feel free to leave me a review. I like those too._

 _I almost forgot to mention, this story is somewhat AU in the regard that it is completely without... wait for it... card games. (le gasp!) Yep. It's just going to be about fluffy, disgustingly cute nonsense between Yugi and Atem. Pretty much whatever comes to my mind that I can throw at them. It'll be an interesting journey._

 _I've just recently been informed that my story is called blindshipping. Not puzzleshipping. Now I just feel silly._


	2. To awkwardness and beyond!

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of YuGiOh. Yeh._

* * *

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwait, _what_ happened?" Joey's voice rushed through the receiver into Yugi's abused ear. Yugi had to move the phone away, and winced before he placed it back in its spot. He blushed fiercely before he reached for a cold bottle of water on his nightstand. The teen placed it on his face in an attempt to quell the heat in his traitorous skin. He then groaned pitifully into the phone. Did he really have to repeat himself? The story was already embarrassing enough being told once. If he had to endure telling it a second time, he feared his face would get so bad off he could go outside and direct traffic while pretending to be a stop sign.

"I... i-it. I fell and stuff. On uh, um... Atem, and we uh... You know. It was an accident!" Yugi stuttered out awkwardly. He only hoped it made some amount of sense. _Please, please don't make me say it again._

Yugi had made it home from school that day after the little "incident" by avoiding all of his friends. He knew they were probably worried about him because of his sudden mood swing. When the three had approached him in another class about it he had just mumbled something incoherently and nothing more. By the time he did get home he felt horribly guilty about it. Just that it was hard to think clearly when all he could think about were soft lips on his; the feel of a toned body on his, and hands that had wrapped themselves around his head to help break the fall. The shocked look in those brilliant, red eyes had him letting out a dreamy sigh. _Atem, Atem, Atem, Atem, Atem, Atem._

Yugi hung his head at his thoughts as he clutched the phone tighter. If he had a mild, little crush on Atem before, he couldn't even begin to label it now. He momentarily entertained the thought of skipping school the next day. He honestly didn't think he could trust himself with running into Atem again so soon.

"Wow. That's... dang. Now I know why you were all quiet in class. Man, I don't blame you. If it were me, I woulda stayed in the bathroom trying to wash the stink off my face." Yugi heard Joey make gagging noises. He almost broke his cover by snorting with laughter. For Joey was most certainly _not_ Yugi. If it wasn't socially unacceptable not to bathe, he wouldn't wash his face for the rest of his life.

"Yeah, I was a bit embarrassed. Sorry I didn't tell you before." Yugi spoke genuinely. He really hadn't meant to ignore his friends. Regardless of his situation. He felt a little better talking about it to get it off his chest. If he had kept his thoughts to himself, his head might surely have imploded. "And when he ran off without helping me up I sorta felt... more embarrassed and awkward." Yugi scratched idly at his multicolored locks. Thinking about how fast Atem seemed to want to get away kind of disappointed him. Not that he had honestly expected anything else. Even with those consoling words to himself, it still didn't keep his finicky heart from feeling a little hurt.

"Do I gotta beat 'em up, Yug'?" Joey seemed to hear the forlorn tone in his friend's voice. He was starting to go into "protect Yugi with life" mode.

Yugi panicked and quickly attempted to rectify his mistake with, "N-no! It's fine Joey, honest. He was probably just embarrassed too."

"Doesn't excuse him for bein' a prick." Yugi sighed. Maybe it would be better if he talked about something else. He really didn't want to risk his best friend following through with the offer to beat Atem up. That's all he'd need. Atem would _really_ hate him then.

"So uh, do you know which historical figure you're going to pick for the upcoming history project?" He asked absently. In their world history class, they were going over a chapter on ancient Egypt. About pharaohs and the like. Yugi's mind drifted off into daydream-y thoughts on what Atem would look like dressed as an ancient Egyptian pharaoh.

"Really Yug'? Do you gotta be such a nerd? That project isn't even due for another three months. We haven't even picked our partners yet." Joey's exasperated voice interrupted Yugi's thoughts.

"Huh? Wha? Oh, right." Yugi shook his head to clear his thoughts. They had been running so rampant that Yugi felt like he barely had any control over them. All because of that incident in the hallway. Maybe he needed some fresh air. Something that could distract himself long enough to settle down from his hormonal high. "What are you up to right now?" He asked his blond friend.

"M-me? Oh uh, nothin' much. Just uh... you know, hangin' out." Came the boy's dodgy reply. Yugi chuckled at the nervousness in the blond's voice.

"You're spying on Mai, aren't you?"

The following sputtering on the other end of the line confirmed his inquiry. "Pffft, no... maybe. A little bit." There was a pause between them as Yugi waited for Joey to continue. He didn't have to wait long. "Okay, okay. Yes. Happy?"

Yugi just laughed at the thought of his friend's face right now at being caught. "Why don't you go over to her house instead of being a peeping tom?"

Yugi heard more sputtering of embarrassment before a strangled shout of, " _What?_ " could be heard. "Are you nuts? There's no way I'm goin' over there." Yugi chuckled. Joey had quite the crush on Mai Valentine. A neighbor of Joey's who had somewhat recently moved into his neighborhood. Another interesting fact about her was that she was actually going to their high school, though, not as a student. She was a teaching assistant trying to earn some money for tuition. Joey had fallen a little head over heels for her the moment he had seen her helping the instructor of their English class. "I don't even know what I'd say." Joey's voice fell a little flat in disappointment.

"How about hi. That's always a good start." Yugi supplied helpfully. He heard his friend sigh.

"Yeah, I thought about it. That's pretty much as far as I got in my head."

Yugi hm'd to himself thinking of something Joey could say to the blonde woman. "You could always just go up there and fill in the blanks when they come up. I'm sure she'll talk too." Yugi could hear rustling on the line. Joey must have been shaking his head.

"Nope, nope, nope. Nada. Nothin' doin'. Bad idea. Last time I trusted myself to 'fill in the blanks' when talking to a girl I got a wedgie, a black eye and four bruises in places I didn't even know I had." The teen huffed when he heard Yugi trying his best to stifle a laugh. "It _wasn_ ' _t_ funny. I couldn't walk straight for weeks."

"Joey, that was middle school, and in her defense, you were chasing her around with your snot after dropping the line, 'if you were a booger, I'd pick you first.'"

Joey didn't seem persuaded. "Same song, different tune. I just know I'll find some way to embarrass myself."

Yugi shrugged at his friend's adamant behavior. "Have it your way. Have fun living through the rest of high school with unrequited love." Somewhere in Yugi's mind a little voice called out _coughhypocritecough._ He heard Joey sigh miserably over the phone.

"You gotta help me out, Yug'. What do I do?"

Yugi went back to thinking. "I really just think you should just go over there and say something. Just try not to throw any pick up lines at her." The teen said with a smile.

Joey seemed to think it over, for there was a pause. "Yeah, maybe you're right." He said after a moment longer. Yugi felt happy he could convince his friend to talk with the person he liked. Now if only he could manage to tell even just one person about his crush, maybe he could get some advice too. Yugi hung his head in defeat. He didn't know how his friends would react to finding out who _he_ was crushing on. The teen really didn't want to deal with the potential aftermath of such an admission. Perhaps it would be best to just keep that little tidbit of information to himself for now. "Thanks, Yug'." Joey's voice brought him back to the present. He nodded, albeit a little less enthusiastic than he had been just a few minutes ago.

"Uh huh. No problem."

"I think I'll go over there now." Joey said sounding more resolute as he continued to think about it.

Yugi couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's enthusiasm. "Go for it." He encouraged.

Yugi heard the other boy swallow nervously. "All right. Thanks for the pep talk, Yug'. I'll let you know how it goes."

The smaller boy gave another nod even though the other couldn't actually see him. "'Kay. See you at school tomorrow."

Joey practically beamed with confidence now. "Yep! Peace!" It was the last thing Yugi heard before the silence. He brought his cell in front of him and hit end. Another sigh escaped his lips. Maybe going out for that fresh air was a good plan. He stretched his arms above his head before he stood up. Where would he go anyway? He could go watch a movie at the theater or something. Should he call another of his friends? Yugi shook his head. No, he preferred to be alone for now. He could talk to them tomorrow once he sorted his feelings out for himself. Yugi looked around his room, and walked over to his school uniform jacket that was hung over the side of his desk chair. He picked it up and shrugged it on. He walked to the door to his room and slipped on his shoes that were beside it. Yugi walked out and down the stairs into the game shop that his grandfather owned. Said grandfather was sweeping up the floor when he noticed Yugi standing at the bottom steps.

"I'm going out for a bit." Yugi said when his grandfather looked to be about to ask. The old man nodded.

"All right. Don't be out too long. There's a storm coming." Yugi nodded his assent and walked through the door of the game shop with the little bell overhead dinging in protest.

* * *

Atem's room was somewhat of a mess. He had tossed off his school uniform and dropped it on the ground where he left it to be picked up later. The teen had pulled on a black, long sleeved shirt and some dark jeans. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed in irritation. Today had been rather eventful. After he had ran off, he had completely avoided Seto and the rest of his friends for the rest of the day. Seto in particular had seemed pretty annoyed at Atem's standoffish behavior. It seemed like he had wanted to talk to him about something, but whenever the other teen got close, Atem was running off in the other direction.

Atem sighed. He'd deal with that guy later. There was another, more pressing, problem he had to deal with right now. He couldn't get said problem out of his head. Not since...

Atem began pacing his room fast enough to leave a skid mark in his carpet. The reason for it was quite obvious. His mind wouldn't allow him any peace from it. The moment playing out repeatedly in his mind's eye. He just couldn't believe he slipped in the water that he had avoided just minutes prior. It was ridiculous. What had he even been thinking about that could have possibly made him forget about it? Oh, that's right.

 _Yugi_.

Atem was finding it more difficult than ever to rid the teen from his head, and now that that little experience happened, the boy was infiltrating his thoughts like an infectious disease he didn't want to be cured from. Atem growled at his own foolish behavior. If he liked Yugi so much, then he should go tell him. Stop with all the damn blushing and skirting around like some kind of preteen girl with a crush on a movie star.

 _Danger. Danger._ _ **Rejection.**_

His annoying brain kept sending him warnings flying around with a bunch of "what ifs" attached. They were hard to ignore though. _What if_ Yugi rejected him? He didn't exactly make the best first impression. He kind of ignored him and his friends for a long time. Mostly his own fault for being in denial about his feelings for quite some time. Now their relationship has upgraded to douchey 2.0 with Atem throwing petty insults at them randomly. Not to mention that not too long ago he kind of slipped on top of the boy, and then hightailed it out of there without even checking to see if he was okay.

There was another important factor he should really consider. Did Yugi even swing that way? He saw the way the other boy looked at his friend Tea in the past. It seemed they shared a history that Atem couldn't even hope to compare to. It was all so frustrating. What was he supposed to do? Just ignore his feelings until they eventually went away? Sounded tedious. Atem didn't like tedious. What else could he possibly do? Confronting the other about his feelings was definitely out of the question.

"Aargh." Atem growled as he stopped his pacing and sat on the edge of his king sized bed. He flopped down onto his back into the plush embrace of the comforter while letting his legs dangle off the edge. The boy gave his ceiling a scathing glare. It didn't seem perturbed by it.

What else could he do? He could call Seto... maybe the emotionally constipated ass could give him some advice. Atem snorted at his own foolish thought. Yeah, right. Seto was more up shit creek without a paddle than he was. The brunet completely avoided his infatuation like the plague. At least he'd actually spoken with Yugi. Even if it hadn't been on the most pleasant terms. Although, it couldn't hurt to get some advice from an outside perspective. There was no way in hell he would call Marik. The boy would just laugh in his face. He could always ask Isis. She would probably give him some impartial advice. He thought more on this option. Atem felt his cheeks heat up a bit in embarrassment. Calling Isis for advice on his relationship issues just made him feel... girly.

Atem shook his head immediately after thinking that. He inwardly berated himself for his childishness. This isn't elementary school. Beggars couldn't be choosers. He sighed as he placed his arms behind his head. Just to avoid any weird, awkward conversations, perhaps it would be better if he called up Seto after all. Making his mind up, the tan boy extended one arm from behind his head and reached for his pant pocket. Giving it a pat down he didn't feel his phone in its normal spot. Atem got up into a relaxed sitting position with his back slightly hunched. His phone was resting on his desk. He stood up and walked over to the device to pick it up and scroll through his contacts. He had just gotten to Seto's name when he heard his father shout from down the stairs.

" _Atem._ "

The tone in his father's voice sounded particularly scolding. What had he done to deserve that?

"Yes, father?" He called out with a tinge of nervousness.

"Can you explain to me why I had to find out from Seto that you're failing your history class?" Atem's eyes widened in shock. Then the realization hit him.

 _Seto._

That... that freaking pompous, conceited, conniving, double-crossing _son of a bitch_. The sound of his father's footsteps came to his ears as the man climbed the steps to get to his son's room. Atem began to panic. What could he do to calm his father down? The next time he saw Seto Kaiba he was going to wring his damn neck.

The imposing man opened Atem's door and stared down at his son with a withering look. Atem began to fidget where he stood as he tried to look anywhere else other than his father.

"Atem." His father repeated. Atem looked up into his father's eyes. The older man looked livid. The teen couldn't stop the wince. "Why are you failing your classes?" Atem bristled at that. Trust the old man to take one thing and twist it to make the situation seem a lot worse than it was.

"I'm not failing all of my classes. Just history." He rectified. Admitting it still made him feel nervous as he looked away from his father's intense gaze.

"Why are you failing history?" His father amended. His tone not wavering.

"I... uh." It probably wasn't a good idea to come up with some petty excuse. His father wouldn't listen to any of them anyway. It would be best to just tell him what he wanted to hear. "I'm sorry, sir. I'll do better." The man didn't seem sated by the response.

"Why do you have to do better at all? Why aren't you already doing better?"

Atem started to seethe inside. He wouldn't be having this conversation right now if Seto had just minded his own damn business. The brunet always felt the need to throw his damn weight around like an insolent child throwing a temper tantrum. Did he honestly want Atem's attention so badly that he would resort to this?

"I said I'll do better. I can't change what's already been done." The teen practically snarled. He then stalked around his father and out of the open door.

"And just where do you think you're going?" The voice of the man followed him down the stairs.

"Out." Was all he said. He really didn't want to deal with this right now. Consequences be damned.

"We're not finished here." His father began as he followed his son down the stairs. Atem had already made it to the front door by the time the older man had reached the end of them. "I'll be calling the school to make sure that you do."

Atem threw the door open and stormed out. "Fine!" Was all he said as he forcefully shut the door in his wake.

Atem was driving down the street feeling more frustrated than ever. He had his window rolled down with one arm leaning outside it. It figured Seto would pull something like this. Why did he call him his friend again? He was tempted to call up the fool's stepfather and inform him that his stepson was an _asshole._ Atem could hear the brunet's snide voice in his head.

 _Joke's on you, he already knows._

"Fuck you, Seto." Great. Now he was letting the son of a bitch get into his head. He found himself just driving around town thinking of what he could possibly do for a couple of hours. He reached up to adjust his rear view mirror, and noticed a building he had just passed. The theater. Atem shrugged. Why not? As he thought this, he made it to the next light and turned around.

* * *

Yugi ran up to the theater out of breath. He placed his hands on his knees and panted. Almost there. Hopefully that documentary was still going on. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. It was 6:30. Made it just in time. The only thing he'd miss were a few of the trailers. Yugi walked up at a slower pace to the booth where he could purchase a ticket. His mind drifted off into thought. He wondered what Atem was doing right now. Did he think of him even a fraction as much as Yugi thought of him? Yugi shook his head vigorously. This was supposed to help him get his thoughts off of the other boy. With that aside, he walked up closer to the booth.

Quite the long line was in front of him. He took his place in the back. Maybe he should have called Tea or Tristan to ask if they might have wanted to come with him. They at least had a car. He hoped he didn't get caught in the rain by the time he had to walk back to the shop.

The line was moving quite slow. Yugi idly wondered why it took people so long to pay and move on. After a few minutes, he was almost at the ticket booth. Finally. He looked passed the body in front of him to get a look at the people ahead when he noticed a familiar head of hair. Yugi's eyes widened almost comically.

 _Atem?_

Yugi shook his head before looking back up to see if his eyes were playing tricks on him. Sure enough, the object of his infatuation was standing right there. Looking as cool and attractive as ever. His stony, impassive face staring down the cashier as he awaited his ticket. He was wearing a black, long sleeved, loose shirt that hung somewhat low exposing his collar bone. He was wearing a pair of dark jeans that were also hanging somewhat low on his hips exposing some of his tan skin. He noticed he was also wearing some big, gold rings on his right hand. It kind of suited him. Also kind of made him look like a gangster, or a pimp. With the way he held himself, tall and imposing, people might have believed that to be true.

 _Okay. Don't panic. He's just here to watch a movie, just like you. He's not even going to pick the same one. Just get your ticket and go find a seat before he notices you._

Yugi sighed to himself.

Another part of his brain didn't want to give him such an easy time at seeing the perfect opportunity to be near his crush. _I dare you to go up there and touch him._

 _No, no, no, no. No way. Not gonna go touch him._

 _Oh, c'mon. I bet he feels nice. Just like his lips._

Yugi was back to shaking the traitorous thoughts free from his mind. So much so that people were starting to back away from him. Atem received his ticket and was now walking off into the building. He hadn't noticed Yugi.

 _Missed your chance._

After a few more people, it was Yugi's turn to get his ticket.

"What d'ya wanna watch, kid?" The man behind the glass asked.

"Uhm, the documentary on Anubis, please." Yugi relayed. The man readied his admission ticket while Yugi got out his wallet. "Thank you." He said amicably as he got his ticket and made his way into the building. As he stepped in, the smell of butter, candy and carbonated soda hit his nose. He gave the crowded space a once over. There were no bronze skinned individuals named Atem in sight. Yugi sighed in relief. He wasn't really hungry so he decided to forgo the popcorn and just ordered himself a drink. He stared down at his ticket to see which section the movie was in. The right side. He walked off down the hall and into the theater room.

The first thing he noticed was that it was almost completely packed. He would never have guessed that many people would care about a documentary. Maybe he just came at a really busy time. He really wanted a spot in the middle. It was his favorite spot in theaters. Not too close and not too far away. He was lucky enough to see a few seats open. Yugi carefully walked up the steps and in between knees and the backs of the seats to get to the spot he wanted to sit. He sat down with a smile, and made himself comfortable as he took a sip of his soda.

* * *

Atem waltzed out of the bathroom while drying off the remainder of water on his hands on his shirt. He looked around. Place was busy as hell today. He stuffed his hands in his pockets before going to order himself some popcorn. After purchasing his diabetes inducing beverage and snack, he walked off into the right side of the the building to find the room the movie would be held in. Atem walked in, and noticed it was just as crowded.

 _Sheesh._

The teen walked up a few steps, and made his way to the middle row. It was dark, but he thought he saw some open seats there. He squeezed through with the occasional, "excuse me," and sat down next to someone else. He crossed one leg over the other as he settled back in his seat. The person beside him let out a startled gasp. Normally he wouldn't have thought anything of it, but when he heard, "Atem?" in a sound of disbelief he turned his head.

Yugi was shocked into a state of stupor. _Atem_ had just sat down beside him. Since when did things like this happen? Were the stars all aligned in just the right way? He looked even more irresistible up close. Oh man, he could smell the woodsy smell of the other's cologne. This was so bad. Yugi looked up into the boy's crimson eyes. He looked just as shocked as Yugi.

"Y-Yugi?" The tanned boy stuttered out.

"Hi!" Yugi blurted out stupidly before he could stop himself. He shut his mouth quickly with an audible click.

"Hi." Atem mumbled. When the hell had Yugi gotten here? He felt an oncoming blush when he looked down, and noticed their arms almost touching on the armrest that divided them. He quickly snatched his arm away. It was a good thing it was dark in the theater.

Yugi noticed the quick movement. He couldn't keep himself from feeling a little disappointed.

"Y-you wanna use the armrest?" He asked uncertainly. The older of the two looked so boyish and charming when he shook his head.

"S'fine. You use it." That deep voice of his was so alluring. _Okay, Yugi. Calm down. We can get through this. Just pay attention to the movie, and it'll all be okay._ Yugi turned his attention to the screen. There would probably be another fifteen minutes of trailers before the actual documentary would start. He took a discreet peek at the multicolored haired teen beside him. Atem's profile was what he saw. The other was watching the trailers with a look of boredom. Maybe he could say something? It's not like he'd be interrupting anything. It was the perfect time.

 _Here's your second chance. Ask if he'll let you touch him._ That damned feeling was nagging at the corner of his mind like nobody's business.

"Do you like Egypt?" He asked suddenly. Atem raised an eyebrow at the question as his eyes moved from the screen to look at Yugi.

"Well, I am Egyptian." Oh, that's right. _Stupid_. _Now he thinks you're an idiot._ Yugi's face heated up as he sank low in his seat. The trailers continued to roll on. Yugi took another furtive glance at Atem. He sat up a little straighter. _Say something cool, or compliment him or something._ Yugi cleared his throat.

"This film is pretty nerdy. I was gonna watch something else, but this documentary was the only thing available." Atem turned to him with an unamused look.

"Okay." Was all he said before turning back to look at the screen. Yugi almost slapped himself. _This_ "nerdy film" _has something to do with his home country you moron. Try something more up your alley, like the compliment idea._

"I bet you'd make a great pharaoh. You know, if you were born during that time. You have the commanding attitude for it." _Too nice. Too nice._

"Uh, thanks?" _Now he just thinks you're weird. Quick! Say something neutral._

"I like Egypt."

"You just said you would have watched something else had the opportunity presented itself."

"I did?" _Danger. Danger._

"Yes." There was a pause between them where neither said anything.

"...Can I touch you?"

"What?"

"Nothing!"

Yugi sank so low in his seat he was almost on the floor. He silently prayed to everything holy that the floor would open up and swallow him. Why couldn't this have been a pleasant escape from his thoughts like he wanted it to be? Everything had to be difficult. Maybe he should just get up and leave while he was ahead.

"Are you okay?" Atem's voice had him jolting upright, and nearly falling off his seat.

"M-me? Yeah, I'm good. I'm great!" He laughed nervously as he situated himself better in the theater's seat. Yugi looked over at Atem to see him looking a little uncomfortable. He looked like he wanted to say something, but something was holding him back. Yugi noticed a slight change in color on his cheeks. Was he blushing? Must be his imagination. The older teen opened his mouth before closing it again with an awkward frown. Then he managed to blurt out quickly,

"I'msorryaboutbefore."

Yugi blinked in confusion. He didn't quite catch that. "What was that?" Atem looked a little miserable as he turned to look at Yugi.

"I'm sorry about before. In the hallway." He said a little slower. It took a moment for Yugi to realize what it was he was talking about.

"O-oh! That's okay. No harm done." _No harm done indeed._

"I would have stayed. I just..." Atem trailed off. Yugi watched him expectantly for him to continue. His embarrassed face contorted into a look of irritation. "I saw Satan and had to run."

Yugi looked a tad surprised. "Huh?"

Atem just shook his head. "Nothing." He said as he took a sip of his drink before placing it down back in the cup holder on the armrest. "I just wanted to apologize for not helping you up before."

Yugi felt a little fluttery inside. So, it hadn't been on purpose that Atem just left him there on the floor? And he apologized! Since when did he say anything but idle insults in his direction? Much less apologies. Yugi took a sip of his own drink before he placed it in the cup holder on the other armrest. He felt much more content now.

"That's okay. I just figured you had been embarrassed."

Atem looked at him sincerely before saying, "That would have been no excuse."

So knightly, so charming. Yugi could have melted into a little puddle of goop. Atem really did care. It made him feel lightheaded. Did that mean Atem didn't dislike him nearly as much as he originally thought he did? The question had him wondering all sorts of new possibilities.

Yugi idly reached for a drink and brought it to his lips.

"Uh, Yugi. That's-" Yugi hadn't even been paying attention until he had already taken a sip. Wait, he didn't order a coke. "Mine." The other finished. Yugi almost spit the liquid out. He moved it out of his face to stare at it in shock. He looked over to his right to see his orange soda sitting innocently where it had been placed prior. He turned to Atem with a fierce blush while blurting out apologies.

"I'm so sorry!" He said as he handed Atem back his drink. The other just chuckled in amusement. Atem then shrugged before placing the straw between his lips. Yugi found himself staring at the boy quite intently. Atem returned his gaze back on Yugi which had him looking away quickly.

"Don't got any diseases, do you?"

That had Yugi looking back sputtering, "What? N-no."

Atem just chuckled again. This time deeper - almost seductive. "'Kay." He went back to sipping at that straw. Yugi hadn't known such a simple action could be so... so sexy.

"Uh, Yugi?" The boy snapped out of his trance to really look at Atem instead of just staring. "The documentary started." Yugi snapped his head around to stare at the screen.

"Oh! Right." Yeah, documentary. That's what he came here for, right? He stared at the screen as the opening scene came up with the opening credits. He watched a man begin to talk about whatever it was this movie was about again in that serious, informative way they do on documentaries. Yugi couldn't help himself. He just couldn't pay attention to a single thing on the big screen. He started to fidget his leg, feeling antsy. The insatiable feeling of wanting to look over at Atem was quite strong. He had started to look over when he caught himself.

 _No! Just pay attention to the film. If he notices you keep sneaking peeks at him he's going to think you're a creep._

Atem glanced at Yugi out of the corner of his eye. The boy looked so uncomfortable and anxious. He almost looked like he either needed to piss really bad or wanted to get out quickly with the way his eyes were somewhat unfocused. Had Atem caused that? He hadn't meant anything by the whole disease thing. Atem inwardly berated himself. Trust him to fall back on the stupid insults. The conversation had seemed to be going okay up until that point. However, Yugi had seemed anxious from the moment Atem had sat down beside him. Perhaps it was just him altogether, not his insult. The behavior made him wonder. Maybe Yugi just didn't like him. Was that truly the reason? Why try to start up a conversation then? Maybe he was just scared of him. That seemed more plausible. The thought was kind of disappointing.

Still, the moment he noticed it was Yugi who he had sat down beside had him feeling so much more relaxed from his earlier state of irritation. Just being near the boy helped instantly alleviate his mind of that bitch ass fool, Seto Kaiba. He had wanted to say something sooner, but was surprised when it was Yugi who had tried to start up a conversation. Said conversation had been... interesting. Awkward, but interesting. It just made him go back to thinking, did he make Yugi nervous?

Atem took another look at the other boy sitting beside him. He was still so fidgety. Maybe he should say something?

"Do I... make you nervous?" Atem cursed inwardly at sounding so disappointed and unsure. He was supposed to be calm, cool, and collected. Not whining like a kicked puppy. The fidgeting stopped so abruptly it was as if the boy were a lamp that got switched off. He turned slowly in Atem's direction to look at him somewhat shyly.

Yugi mumbled something that sounded like, "You have no idea."

Atem wasn't sure if he heard that right. Raising an eyebrow at the younger teen he asked, "What?"

"It's nothing. I'm just... not feeling all that well." The other said as he tried to situate himself more comfortably in his seat. He let out a forced laugh. Atem knew that feel. His mind wandered back on the conversation he recently had with his father that had caused him to come to this theater in the first place. Then to a certain individual who had started it all. Atem couldn't stop the growl that escaped his lips. That had Yugi looking at him in mild surprise. "Are you okay?" The younger teen asked timidly.

Atem turned his attention back to the boy who asked a question of him. He noticed Yugi's uncertain, nervous expression and immediately ceased his growling.

"Yeah, sorry. I came here because I wasn't feeling well either." He looked over to see a change in Yugi's demeanor. The other teen looked more determined, and sincere when he asked,

"Oh. I see. ...do you want to talk about it?" Atem's expression softened. Yugi was actually offering to help him. It had Atem feeling an unfamiliar warmth inside.

"I shouldn't bother you with my problems." He said after a moment. It wasn't that he wouldn't talk about what happened, just that he kind of wanted to see if Yugi would press the issue. He inwardly told himself he was being rather immature, but he couldn't help himself. It felt nice to have the other boy worry about him.

"I don't mind." Yugi said adamantly. The persistence in the younger teen's voice made Atem smile.

"Well, it's kind of a long story." He said dragging out the feeling. He was rewarded for it when Yugi replied with,

"I have time!" Rather enthusiastically. Atem's smile widened. The teen noticed his own overly excited reply and blushed as he looked down at his hands in his lap.

"If you insist." Atem started. A coquettish look in his crimson eyes. After a moment he sighed. Thinking back on the event was annoying. "My father and I had a disagreement." Yugi glanced back up at him looking curious.

"About what?" Atem looked over at Yugi who looked back down at his hands. "I mean, you don't have to tell me what it was about. I don't mean to be nosy." Atem shrugged.

"It's fine." Yugi looked back up with a shy smile. The look sent little shudders racing through Atem's system. He looked away before he was tempted to do something stupid. "It was about my grade in that damned history class. I'm... not doing so well in it." Yugi seemed to find that surprising as he blinked cutely and tilted his head slightly.

"Really? It can't be that bad." Atem felt his face heat up at the boy's action. _Just squish him. Do it. He's asking for it looking like that._

 _No, don't squish him. He'll think you're a freaking creep._

 _Oh, c'mon. One little squish._

"Atem?" Yugi asked innocently. Atem was sure by the tormented look on his face he probably looked constipated.

"Uh, well, I'm failing." _Oh, that's good. Real smart. You should have just kept your mouth shut and squished him. At least then you wouldn't have sounded like an incompetent fool._

"Really? I would never have guessed. It's just you're so..." Atem looked back over to Yugi to see him blushing. "You know, smart and stuff." Yugi turned away from the older teen to stare somewhere off to his right. Atem felt some of his confidence coming back from that assessment of him from the younger boy.

"Probably wouldn't be failing if I could stay awake for more than five minutes through the old man's lectures." Yugi looked back at Atem with another one of those heat inducing smiles.

"Yeah. He can get kind of boring." Atem chuckled. "Can get boring" was a definite understatement. He then felt a bit of irritation coming back to him at the thought of the reason why his father knew anything about him failing at all.

"It would have been fine. Just that there are a few people out there that like to go poking their noses in places it doesn't belong." He said with a growl. Atem noticed Yugi looking a little nervous at the aggressive statement. "Not you, another person." He said in case the boy thought he was talking about him.

"O-oh. Who?" Atem grunted in disdain. He felt his frustration rising again as he thought about the brown haired teen.

"Seto fucking Kaiba." Atem said through gnashed teeth. He heard some hushed shushes from behind him at his increasing volume, but ignored them. "He likes to get into peoples' business just to mess with them. He gets off on it." Atem said throwing his arms around in irritation.

"Oh." He heard Yugi say quietly. It seemed like he was trying to be more quiet to Atem's loudness, but Atem found himself too invested in his venting to calm down now.

"Then when you try to get into _his_ business, he get's all ornery and offended. Like he has any right!" More shushes could be heard from behind them. The people sitting beside the two were glaring at them heatedly.

"A-Atem? We should probably be more quiet." Yugi said trying to calm the other teen down.

Atem wasn't really paying attention anymore as he continued with, "Then the son of a bitch likes to play it down like he really didn't do anything. Acts like you're overreacting!"

"Atem..."

"The next time I see him, I'm going to knock the smirk right off his arrogant face!" Atem snapped out as he forced his arm hard to the right.

"A-" Yugi started, but was cut off rather harshly by a hand getting thrown into his face. Atem looked over to Yugi, and noticed he had just practically punched the boy in the face. He retracted his hand quickly muttering out quickly,

"Yugi?" The boy didn't respond though, as he curled up and bent over his lap holding his nose. The hit itself probably wouldn't have been so bad. Definitely would have hurt with the way he was throwing himself around, but the boy probably would have been fine. It was just then that he remembered he had put on those gold rings of his that had him lifting his hand up to glance at them. A bit of red was smeared on their edges. Atem's eyes widened in shock. He stood up quickly to grab onto the boy's back. The fast action caused quite the domino effect.

The hem of Atem's pants snagged the lid of his soda causing it to attempt to come up with him. It popped the lid off, but not before it tipped over and spilled all over the floor. The person sitting on his left let out a shout.

"Hey! Watch it!" Atem looked down at the mess, but ignored it in favor of trying to help Yugi. As soon as he turned back, though, Yugi had already gotten up and was running out of the theater room holding onto his nose. Shouts were now erupting from all around him. People turned around in front of him telling him to keep it down.

"Hey, sit down man!" Another person shouted at him. Atem tried to rush out of the row, but ended up knocking into everyone's snacks and drinks along the way. Popcorn was flying everywhere as well as drinks. Shouts and angry retorts were being thrown at him from all sides. When he finally did manage to get out and into the damn isle, two security guards were standing in front of him. Atem stared up at them with a sheepish grin. The two didn't share it as they grabbed Atem by the shoulders and promptly threw him out of the theater.

* * *

 _Author's note:_

 _Ahem, hello there. Just some things I want to mention so as not to confuse anyone. The little thoughts that Atem and Yugi have occasionally are just warring emotions. I just kind of personified them so as to get across that their emotions are torn when the other is present. Just in a more humorous way. Just wanted to clarify that so people aren't goin', the heck? These guys have split personalities or somethin'? They don't. Heh._

 _Also, I'd like to thank_ _LilRachity, AlexistheEliatrope, Myfanfix and a guest for reviewing my story so far. Thanks for the input! I'm glad you guys like it. I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint._

 _Another thing I'd like to say is, I appreciate the feedback I get from you guys. I'm not really new to this site, but I haven't really posted many stories on it. So, any feedback I get is just wonderful. If you guys think something just doesn't work, or sounds awkward, or anything, let me know! Or if you totally dig something that I wrote, I'd love to hear about that too. Let's me know what I should continue doing. Don't be shy!_

 _On a completely unrelated note, I was wondering if anyone can fill me in on all the shipping pairings. Kinda new to the YuGiOh fandom, so some of them I just completely don't know. I know puzzleshipping is Yugi x Atem/Yami Yugi and that puppyshipping is Joey x Seto? And that Prideshipping is Atem x Seto? That's about the extent of my knowledge._

 _Stay classy peeps._


	3. WARNING: Beware of the dragon

_Disclaimer: YuGiOh is not something of which I own. Yoda, I am._

 _..._

 _I don't own that saying either._

* * *

Out of the several people Atem had met in his lifetime, through his father's connections as well as the acquaintances he himself has made, there were only two that could really get under his skin.

Without fail.

Just the two.

One of which was in a good way. No, the best way possible. That person was, of course, Yugi Muto. He had been a constant source for many the heated blushes, awkward stares, confused thoughts, tingly feelings... the list could go on. Atem found himself going out of his way just to be near the boy for a moment. It was kind of embarrassing if he was being honest with himself. He thought he was being subtle about it, but evidently not. Which led him to the other one of the two. The one who could get so thoroughly under his skin it would take surgery to remove the bastard. Something akin to a parasitic vine that just kept growing back no matter how many times he pulled it from the ground.

Seto _fucking_ Kaiba. This grade A son of a bitch was really something else. In the worst way possible. His reasoning for being friends with the spawn of Satan himself was partly out of the mutual respect they had for one another. Atem was the son of a rich businessman, and shared a lot of his father's traits. Such as being cruel and taking charge when necessary, but also being compassionate and considerate for the feelings of another. Seto was in line to take command of his stepfather's company. If he didn't steal it out from under him first. The two had met during a meeting between their respective fathers in which they were brought along. They had been in middle school at the time, and had been something close to friends ever since.

When the two of them had first started attending this high school, they had earned quite the reputation for themselves as being, "those attractive, rich bastard guys." Atem hadn't really cared. He was rather aloof and indifferent towards the student body that practically worshiped him like royalty. They, of course, did not possess the ability to get under his skin. Seto simply did not care about anyone.

The other part was because he, at one point, thought there was some semblance of a heart beneath the money and ice that made up, Seto _fucking_ Kaiba. That was, of course, up until yesterday. Now, Atem had known Seto for years. He was quite privy to the ways in which the boy operated. Seto had many traits. Some good, the majority bad. Being a snitch, however, was one such a trait he had never known the teen to possess.

It didn't quite make sense to him. When he was pissed off that time, Atem had passed it off as Seto doing Seto things. He was an ass, why _not_ tattle on him like a puerile child? The more he thought on it, though, the more it began to make less sense. Seto _never_ acted like a child. It just wasn't him. This conclusion led Atem to think Seto must have had some kind of demented reasoning behind his actions.

Normally, Atem would have blown it off. At least, after the initial anger of being ratted out passed. It wasn't as if Seto hadn't done similar things of less magnitude in the past. Atem himself had likewise returned the favor. Though neither of them had ever involved each other's guardians. It was like an unspoken rule. Mostly because Seto loathed his stepfather, and wanted nothing to do with him. Atem simply feared his father, and would have preferred not to include him.

The key word here, however, is _normally_. Because yesterday, the dreaded day that was yesterday, was still quite fresh in his mind. Not just the bit with Seto talking to his father behind his back, oh no. The part where he was in the theater with the only other person who could get under his skin. When he near about knocked said person out due to his raging emotions for the backstabbing punk. Was it petty, and likewise childish, for him to blame Seto for what happened to Yugi? Probably. Did he still blame him anyway? Oh, yes.

Atem could practically hear the headlines as if Seto was the villain in a dramatic comic book.

 _And Seto Kaiba strikes again!_

Atem walked aggressively through the halls of Domino High School. His indignation rolled off of him in waves like a dark aura. The kids around him parted before him like the red sea. His back straight, head held high, hands balled into fists by his sides. He knew where Seto would be. In his homeroom class no doubt. It was the only place the other would go if there was ever a break in between classes. Atem stalked up to the slightly opened door, and moved it open with one arm. He took a step in and turned around. Sure enough, sitting there in all of his icy, bitch ass glory, was Seto Kaiba. He was sitting in a far off corner reading a book about something that didn't matter.

Seto glanced up from the text to look at Atem with an apathetic look in his eyes before he nonchalantly stared back down at his book. The audacity, the temerity, the _gall_ he had ignoring Atem like that. After the shit he put him through? It was like the icing on top of the freaking cake.

 _Calm down. Don't show emotions. He's like an animal. Show him you're angry and he'll pounce like a man-eating serpent and suck the life right through your veins._

Atem inhaled through his nose and exhaled through his mouth. He straightened his shoulders, and walked over to Seto more calmly. He sat down in a seat directly in front of the other teen. There was a pause between them as Seto didn't say anything while Atem thought for a moment on what to say that would really get his point across.

"You're an asshole." Yep, that about summed it up.

Seto looked up from his book to stare at Atem who was looking somewhere off in the classroom. "I know." Atem flinched.

 _Don't lose your composure. Man-eating serpent, remember?_

"You know I hate you, right?"

Seto stared back down at his book. "Yep."

"You also know that there are other, more effective ways to get my attention, right?"

Seto turned a page. "Yep."

Atem was grinding his teeth together at this point. "And you just so happened to pick the one you knew would piss me off the most?"

"Yep."

 _He'll suck the life right out of you!_

Atem was seething. This punk just sat there - baiting him. He wouldn't hit him though. That wasn't a dignified way to handle this situation. Not how he was raised. He inhaled and exhaled again.

"Fuck you, Seto."

"No thanks."

Atem wanted to reach out and strangle him. How could one individual be so insufferable? It was positively maddening.

"If you wanted my attention so badly, why didn't you just ask me?" Atem asked through clenched teeth. Seto set upon him an annoyed glare of his own.

"I tried. You were so wrapped up in whatever the hell had crawled up your ass that you ignored everything else." Atem's rage faltered. Yeah, he forgot about that. He looked over at Seto through narrowed eyes. Guy still wasn't off the hook.

"You actually _snitched_ on me. You brought my father into this."

Seto shrugged. "You pissed me off."

Atem's voice got dangerously low as he said, "We _never_ bring them into our disputes. What could possibly be so important that you'd break the only rule we have?" Seto stared at him with a glint of some other emotion in his eyes that Atem couldn't quite place. Some of his anger waned into curiosity.

"This could have been avoided if you had stopped running away from me every time I tried to walk up to you." Was Seto... pouting? _The_ Seto Kaiba? It didn't even sound right in his head. Atem was now more curious as the anger slowly began to fade out of his system.

"What is it? What do you want?" Atem asked, raising an eyebrow at the other. His curiosity just increased as Seto's face contorted into a look that looked like, well, he looked constipated. Emotionally constipated. Somewhere between mortified, embarrassed and irritated.

His voice was quiet when he said, "Kisara came up to me a couple of days ago. She asked me if she and I could... talk more. I didn't know what to say." Atem wouldn't go so far as to say Seto was blushing. Seto didn't blush. He simply looked pained. Atem took a moment to fully comprehend what he had been told. This whole thing was about... Kisara? He couldn't believe it.

"And you needed to desperately talk to me... because?"

Seto gave him an indignant look. "I wanted an outside perspective."

"Why didn't you ask me yesterday? Before I left the cafeteria."

"I wasn't going to say anything with Marik there." Point taken.

"Why not talk to Isis? I'm sure she would have helped you out since I was, 'too wrapped up in whatever the hell had crawled up my ass.'" Seto looked even more mortified at hearing his friend's name.

"Because... she's a..."

"She's a?"

"... a girl."

Atem tried hard to stifle the oncoming snicker. Seto noticed and glared at him in irritation. "And that's a problem because?" The tanned boy asked behind his hand.

Seto was back to looking troubled. "It would have been... awkward." Atem couldn't help it. He suddenly burst out laughing. So much so that tears started to form at the corners of his eyes. All of his previous anger completely dissipated. Seto's face was still caught somewhere between horror and anger. In a desperate need to take control of the situation, Seto suddenly asked, "Why were you so angry about it anyway? I knew you'd be annoyed with me, but that was more anger than even I expected." Atem quieted down into the occasional snicker. He looked over at Seto, and remembered what had happened in the movie theater. He still found himself somewhat sore about that, but far less so now. He was going to ask Seto about Yugi anyway. Might as well talk to him about it now.

"After you pulled that little stunt of yours, I went out." Atem started, looking down at his hands as he replayed the events in his head. Seto sat there and looked at Atem with an impassive expression. He waited patiently for the tanned skinned boy to continue. "I went to the movies. I just wanted to do something to pass the time for a couple hours while I waited for my father to cool down." As he said this, he sent Seto a glare. Just to remind him he still wasn't pleased about that. The other teen didn't respond. "Well, when I made it in there, I ended up sitting next to Yugi." He continued. Seto gave him a look of bewilderment.

"Sounds like I helped you out. Shouldn't you be thanking me?" Atem just gave him an impassive stare. Seto closed his mouth.

"It was going all right for a little while, until I started talking to him about what you did. I was still mad, and I..." Atem paused for a moment. "I did something I shouldn't have. It was an accident. If he hadn't been so close..." Atem was irritated with himself for even saying that. He shouldn't have allowed himself to get so mad in the first place. Unfortunately, like he thought before, Seto had the uncanny ability to get under his skin. Seto didn't say anything, but it was clear he was curious. He waited for Atem to continue his story. Atem paused again as now it was his turn to feel uncomfortable. "I... hit him in the face." A silence stretched between them as Seto slowly raised an eyebrow at his friend.

"You hit him. In the face." It wasn't a question. More, a confirmation. Atem looked miserably down at his shoes. He heard Seto whistle low at his misfortune. When Atem looked back up Seto was, dare he say, grinning. Most evilly. It seemed he had found the control he had been looking for.

 _Now you've done it. You've dangled your emotions in front of the serpent's face like a slab of meat. Now you're going to get the life sucked right out of you. Don't look directly in his eyes!_

"Oh, that's good. He'll know you're committed to a relationship now. If he ever tries to run out on you in the future, you'll just pull him back in with a well placed slap to the face. Nothing shows you care like a little domestic abuse." When Seto said this, Atem groaned pitifully and he put his head in his hands. Damn it all. He shouldn't have said anything. "What else did you do? Did you lay down the law right then and there? Tell him not to talk to anybody or else have the fear of God instilled in him? Is he under house arrest for the rest of his days?" Atem whirled around and got in Seto's face. That spark of anger returned.

"Fuck you, _Kaiba_."

Seto just smirked. "Why do you keep hitting on me? I thought you liked Yugi. You aren't going to hit me, are you?" Atem ran a hand through his hair, and gave it a tug in frustration.

"I _told_ you. It was..."

* * *

"...an accident, guys. I swear!" Yugi exclaimed as he was surrounded by his friends like lions circling a dying animal. He had been sitting in his homeroom class at his desk when they had found him, and had immediately freaked out because of the purplish discoloration that marred his pale skin. They were inspecting his face as if they were mad scientists looking at a specimen under a microscope. Joey had been the first to start shouting, and no amount of assurances from Yugi could stop his friend's verbal assault on any he deemed evil enough to do such a thing to his best friend.

"Tell me who did it Yug'. Just gimmie a name. I'll tear him a new one!" Joey exclaimed as he whirled around the classroom looking for anyone who even looked at him shifty eyed. Tristan didn't look too pleased himself as he looked at Yugi's bruised nose with disdain. Tea looked nearly as mad as Joey, but she kept her temper under control. For now. There were cuts on the bridge of his nose as well. Yugi knew it looked a little bad. He probably should have stayed home today.

"It's not nearly as bad as it looks, honest." He tried again as his blond friend jumped around and growled at everyone who came near. Joey whirled around when he heard Yugi speak.

He slammed his hands on his friend's desk before he shouted, "Not that bad? Yug', ya look like you got it handed to ya by a freaking wrestler!" Yugi flinched at the volume of Joey's voice. The blond haired boy noticed, and pulled back a bit while looking a little guilty. Tristan, who had been silently studying the injury, spoke up.

"Seriously Yugi, if someone's messin' with you-"

"No one's messing with me! Really!" Yugi was starting to feel exasperated. He appreciated their concern, but how many times did he have to reiterate that it was an accident? He felt like he was being smothered. Joey's irritation began to resurface as he got close to Yugi yet again.

"If it was an accident, why won't you tell me who did it?!" Yugi looked away from his friend's face in shame. He couldn't tell Joey it was Atem. He'd go after him for sure. Atem didn't mean it. He just got a little carried away. That's all. No one had to make a big deal about it. If he hadn't moved so close to the older boy just to try and fulfill his own desires of being near him it wouldn't have even happened. Joey pulled back away from Yugi, and looked annoyed by his friend's silence. "Yug'." He said, and gained the attention of Yugi who looked back up to him. Joey placed his hands on the smaller boy's shoulders. He looked at him in the eyes and continued, "I promise I won't hurt 'em." Yugi began to look more pleased when he heard that.

"Really?" He asked as his face began to light back up.

"Yeh." Joey said with a grin. He rubbed his hand roughly against his nose. "I promise I'll only gently shove my foot up his ass. Then I'll politely tell 'em ta go screw himself while I gently smash his face into the pavement. 'Kay?" Yugi's face paled as the smile slowly fell away.

"Seriously Yugi, we're only worried about you." Tea spoke up this time. She captured the attention of the other three. "It's not like we don't trust you when you say it was only an accident. It's just... we also know you wouldn't want to make a big deal about it. What I mean is, we don't really know if it was worse than you're making it out to be."

Yugi spoke up quickly to defend himself. "I know you're all worried, but I'm being honest. It really was just an accident. It wasn't anything more than that." Yugi sighed in resignation. Perhaps it would be better to just tell them so they didn't jump to any conclusions.

"It was Kaiba, wasn't it? I'll knock his block off!" Joey barked.

 _Kind of like that._

"No! It was Atem!" Yugi shouted when Joey had started to walk towards the door. The faces around him looked surprised. Tea in particular looked shocked. Joey recovered pretty fast, however.

"What?! Let me at that prick! I'll make 'em wish his dad wore a condom all those years ago!" Yugi got up quickly when Joey continued to walk towards the door. He grabbed him by the back of his jacket, and put his weight into pulling him back.

"Wait Joey! Let me explain!" Joey stopped moving, and turned his head to look at Yugi over his shoulder with an impatient and irritated look in his brown eyes. Yugi sighed in relief when Joey actually listened to him. He looked over his shoulder to see Tristan and Tea looking at him expectantly as well. The boy let go of his friend's jacket, and put his hands by his sides. He hoped that his explanation would placate them. At least long enough for him to confront Atem about it himself first. "Uhm..." He started awkwardly. The three seemed less than pleased with his opening line. He chuckled nervously. "Okay. What happened was I went to the movies after I talked to you on the phone, Joey." The blond nodded to show he was listening. "And well, when I went there, Atem was there. I was sitting in the theater when he sat beside me." The others looked at him impassively.

"And? What'd he do?" Asked Joey.

"We just talked. Then he told me he was there because he was upset about something his friend did."

Joey eyed him for any signs of little white lies. "And he punched you because he was mad at his friend?"

Yugi shook his head vigorously. "No! Well, sort of. Not like that!" Joey neither look convinced, nor sated. "He was just mad at his friend, yeah. He didn't mean to. He was just moving his hands around a lot, and moved too quickly and hit me. He was wearing these rings at the time that scratched up my nose a little, that's all." Joey shoved his hands in pockets, and glared somewhere off to the side.

"Did he help you out?" Yugi heard Tristan ask. Yugi turned around to face him.

"I uh, I think he tried. I ran to the bathroom soon after it happened, and waited there until the pain went away a little. Then I went home. I don't know what happened to Atem after I left."

Yugi heard Joey growl behind him. "I still don't like this Yug'." The blond said in evident disdain. Yugi felt that exasperation return to him. Maybe a comparison would help subdue the hostility.

"Joey, what if you accidentally hit me? It would be no different."

Joey turned to him sharply. "What would I do? I'd kick my _own_ ass. That's what I'd do." Yugi looked at his best friend with a sheepish half-smile. Joey was stubborn and more loyal than anyone else he'd ever known.

"Thanks, Joey, but I can take care of myself." Joey raised an eyebrow as he looked directly at Yugi's bruised nose. Yugi felt his cheeks flush, but stood up a little straighter. "I mean it. Don't go trying to beat him up, okay? Let _me_ talk to him about it." Joey's eyes narrowed as he stared at Yugi for a moment. He then turned away from the determined face, and sighed in defeat.

"Fine. But the moment I see you comin' back in here with one more cut, just one more scrape, and he'll be runnin' for the hills like the devil's on his heels." Joey said as he crossed his arms while defiantly glaring off into another direction. Yugi smiled.

"Thanks Joey." Yugi said as the blond haired boy turned back to him. The blond couldn't help but grin right back.

"Or a hell hound on his heels." Tristan gibed.

Joey turned a fierce glare on the grinning brunet. "Shut up, Tristan."

Yugi smiled at his friends. They really were the best. He was glad Joey was going to give him the chance to prove he could handle his own problems. The taller boy had always looked out for him. Was always there when he needed someone the most.

"I think I'll go look for him." Yugi said, interrupting the two from their dispute. Joey and Tristan stopped what they were doing to look over at him.

Tea spoke up from her silence, "Right now? Class is going to be starting soon." She said as she glanced at her watch.

Yugi nodded. "I'll be quick."

"All right, Yug'. Ya better tell me what happens. And ya better give it to me straight." Joey said. Yugi nodded his assent. He then waved to them as he walked out of his homeroom class to go look for Atem.

* * *

Atem had been walking with Seto down the hallway while he argued with the brunet the whole way. Ever since he had told the blood sucking, fire breathing dragon about what happened at the movie theater with Yugi, the guy wouldn't let him have any peace from it. Atem figured this was because he had laughed at the boy's explanation of why he'd gone through the trouble to get Atem to pay attention to him. The only reason he had even laughed was because of how ironic it was. It didn't seem that Seto would be having any of that, however. The damage had already been done. Now he would suffer the consequences for his actions. Thoroughly.

Honestly, he wanted to get away from the insufferable teen to go and find Yugi and apologize. He hadn't even had the chance before with the way the younger boy had ran away that time at the theater. The more Seto brought it up, the more he felt utterly miserable about what had happened. Was Yugi still in pain? He hadn't even had the chance to ask. It had seemed like it hurt with the way the boy had hunched over. Did he give him a bruise? God, he hoped not. That would really make him sad if it was as bad as his imagination was making it out to be.

What if when he saw Yugi next, he walked up to him with a twisted and broken nose? What if his whole face was bruised? He didn't break his nose, did he? Oh shit, he hadn't even thought of that possibility. Yugi probably thoroughly hated him now. How could he apologize for that? Should he seek Yugi out, or wait for the boy to come to him? It was all so frustrating. Atem did not do well with infatuations. He didn't know how to handle these situations.

"You ever think to ask him if he liked it when you hit him? Maybe he's a masochist. That'd be a twist." Atem stopped walking abruptly at the retort. Seto stopped with him with a devious smirk settled perfectly over his face like a glove. As if smirking was made specifically for Seto Kaiba's face. Atem turned a stone cold glare upon the taller boy. Seto and smirking might go hand-in-hand, but Atem was the king of murderous, malice laden scowls. Seriously, that had been the final straw. Atem couldn't take the snide remarks anymore. If Seto didn't shut up himself, Atem would help him shut up. He grabbed Seto by the front of his school uniform to shake him.

He hadn't even seen the wild, multicolored hair of a familiar face running towards the two of them when he shouted out, " _ **Fuck off, Seto!**_ " Seto didn't seem at all fazed by his shouting. The smirk he had plastered on his face just got wider as he stared ahead of the both of them. Atem was momentarily confused. That was until he turned his head to see Yugi had been standing in front of them. Atem's eyes widened in shock.

"I... uh, came to talk to you about something, but I... think I'll come back later." Yugi said, and looked a little nervous. He then began to back up and hurry in the opposite direction in which he came.

Seto saw the chance. Seto seized the chance.

"Oh, Atem. He's walking away. Going to let him do that? Quick, hit him again." That snapped Atem out of his stupor in time to see Yugi's retreating back round the corner. He turned his head to glare at Seto one last time before he ran after the boy.

"Wait! Yugi! It's not what it looks like!" He shouted out as he ran around the corner. "Come back!"

Seto watched his, nearing to be former, friend run off after the little dork like a lost puppy with its tail between its legs. It was kind of pathetic really, but he found himself unable to judge. After all, he was the one who ran to Atem when he felt lost. Then the fool dared to laugh at him. _Him_. Seto Kaiba. Nobody laughed at him and got away with it. Not even Atem. He supposed he was being a bit harsh, though. It felt foul just thinking about the _possibility_ of pitying him. Though, he was his friend. Ugh, friend. He didn't want to think too much on that. He figured he might contract something from just the word alone.

It was true enough, though. He could hardly tolerate anyone else. Atem was the only one whose words he heeded. Whose opinion he respected. He guessed he could... _help_. Seto found himself shuddering slightly. Helping someone without gaining a direct benefit from it? Was he getting soft? Whose influence was this? He decided it best not to think on that too much. Now he just had to think about how he could contribute to Atem's little quest. He found himself shrugging. Perhaps he could help out whenever the other was in a particularly condemning bind. He stood there and pondered more on the subject.

* * *

Joey walked through the halls deep in thought. That probably wasn't a good thing, for anybody, but he found himself in a bit of a bind. He wanted to heed Yugi's plea to confront Atem on his own. Really, he did. Just that he couldn't shake the image of Yugi's bruised nose from his mind. The poor kid was always a target of bullies. Always had been, always will be. He didn't even have anyone to look out for him. Didn't have an older brother or sister. Didn't have a dad, or a mom looking out for him. This had Joey feeling somewhat responsible for making sure nothing happened to Yugi, and he failed. While he was off doing stupid shit with Mai, his best bud was getting beaten up by that rich jackass, _Atem._

Yes, it had been an accident. Joey had heard Yugi loud and clear. Still, Atem's name had been on his shit list ever since he met that snobbish prick back in the ninth grade. He hadn't exactly made a good name for himself with all the insults and stupid looks he always sent Yugi and the rest of them whenever the douche had a chance. Was he supposed to just forget all about that? It was tough, but he didn't want to undermine Yugi by going above his head and bitching at the jerk. But he didn't want to just sit there and do nothing either. Joey found himself sighing. He would just stay on the down low until he heard back from Yugi. What choice did he have?

Joey walked on while he stared forlornly at the ground. He kept walking until he took a glance upward, and noticed a brown haired individual standing in the center of the hallway looking as ominous and imposing as ever. Joey's eyes immediately narrowed as he muttered out, "Kaiba." Joey completely forgot about the words he had said to Yugi as soon as he was in the presence of Seto Kaiba. The other boy hadn't noticed him as Joey stomped up behind him and shoved the taller teen hard against the back. "Hey, you punk! Where's your boy, _Atem_ at? I got a bone to pick with that prick."

Seto hadn't been expecting the assault as he stumbled ungracefully forward and almost lost his balance. He caught himself before the impending fall. Standing back up straight to his full height of over six feet, Seto turned slowly to face the one who dared shove him. When he noticed the blond haired moron, he snarled.

"Son of a literal _bitch_." Joey let out a growl of his own at the insult.

"Listen, moneybags, I don't give a shit about you. I just wanna know where that dick, Atem, is." The dangerous glare Seto had been giving Joey turned into a haughty smirk.

"Oh? You noticed that little nick, huh?" Joey was practically smoldering at the guy's tone. He was acting like it was nothing. He'd have to get Yugi's forgiveness later. This dickhead was going down. The smirk on Seto's face fell into a frown at the look Joey was giving him. "I suggest you get yourself lost, Wheeler. Unless, of course, you want a matching set to your boyfriend's." Joey snarled in unadulterated rage as he launched himself at the other boy. Seto caught him by the front of his shirt, and threw him against the wall with a thud. He slid Joey up to eye level as the blond struggled to get out of his grasp. "I warned you." Was all he said as he raised his right fist in the air.

Okay, so, maybe Joey hadn't really thought this through. Okay, he hadn't thought this through at all. Now he was up against the wall about to get pounded by the only other person he hated maybe even a little bit more than that scumbag, Atem, and he couldn't do shit to stop it. Life was a real bitch sometimes. Joey watched the fist come flying for his face, and couldn't help but flinch his eyes shut. However, the pain never came as a voice came out of seemingly nowhere. A gentle, shy voice that sounded so feminine and pretty.

"Seto?" Joey opened his eyes a crack, and noticed the fist that was originally coming right for his face was hovering just an inch away. Talk about serious reaction time. Then he looked at Kaiba. The guy was just standing there stupefied. Like Medusa had just come up out of nowhere and petrified him. "What are you doing, Seto?" The voice asked again. Joey looked around for the owner to it. His eyes landed on a girl with the prettiest hair he'd ever seen. Long and silvery. Her eyes were a pretty shade of blue; her skin pale. Wait, he thought he recognized her. Wasn't she-

"Kisara." He heard Kaiba mutter under his breath. Kaiba dropped Joey to the floor, and took a few steps back. Fortunately, Joey caught himself to land on his feet. He looked curiously at Kaiba's down turned, suddenly shell-shocked face. Then he looked over at his unknowing savior. Now, some people might think Joey Wheeler is a dunce. ...those people are probably right, _but_ , he could tell an obvious crush when the signs were thrown directly in his face. It was his turn to smirk.

"Somebody's gotcha by the short and curlies, huh moneybags?" Joey asked as he shoved his hands into his pockets while hunching over slightly to look at Kaiba's face. The taller boy flinched, but did nothing else. Joey grinned widely. He looked over at the girl who was hesitantly standing behind the two. "Your name's Kisara, right?" He asked. The girl nodded. Oh man, this was too rich. Here he was looking for Atem, and he gets Seto Kaiba's pride instead. Sounded like an even trade. "Well lemme tell you what your friend, _Seto,_ was about to do ta me." Joey saw the brief panic flash over Kaiba's blue eyes before being replaced with loathing.

 _Oh, touchy, touchy. Kaiba must got it bad._

Normally Joey wouldn't resort to such petty ways to get to his enemies. Not even his worst ones. For Seto Kaiba, though, he'd make a personal exception. He found himself grinning like a maniac at his luck. That is, until a voice called out,

"Joey? Is that you?" Joey stiffened so suddenly as his eyes widened in shock. No, no way. Joey turned his head slightly to see Mai Valentine walking towards the three. Joey turned back around quickly to feign like he didn't care, but it was already too late. There was a crazed, homicidal gleam in Kaiba's eyes.

 _Shit. Fuck. Shit, shit, shit, shit. This can't be happening._

"Excuse us." Joey heard Kaiba say as he was grabbed by the collar of his shirt and dragged off down the hallway. Once they were out of sight and earshot of the two girls, Joey found himself reacquainted with the wall. Kaiba was giving him such a fierce glare that Joey felt like the other boy might burn holes right through his skull. "So, you _filthy dog._ It seems we're at an impasse. What do you suppose we do about our little... _predicament_?" Kaiba's voice was filled with so much venom, Joey almost thought he'd been infected. Joey grinned nervously as he looked at Kaiba in the eyes.

"Uh, truce?" Joey winced as he was pressed harder into the wall.

 _Note to self: Don't antagonize the dragon. He's got too many teeth._

"Okay, okay!" Joey let out as his shoulders started to ache. Kaiba let up, but only minutely. "I won't say anything to Kisara, and I won't mention it to anyone. You don't rat me out about Mai. All right?" Joey said through clenched teeth. Kaiba let him go and stepped away. Joey had to roll his shoulders out just to make sure they hadn't gotten popped out of place.

"Don't push me, Wheeler. I don't make for a pleasant enemy." Joey glared at the brown haired douche, but he didn't say anything as the other stalked off down the hallway.

* * *

Atem ran down the hallway in search of the multicolored haired teen. Seto just had to be so sore about him laughing that he had to make him look bad? It just figured that something like this would happen to him. Atem grunted in dismay as he rounded another corner of the building. This was stupid. Everything was stupid. He was stupid, Seto was stupid, these walls hiding Yugi were stupid. Why couldn't anything be easy for a change?

Atem came to a stop down one of the halls. He looked around for any sign of the smaller boy. Yugi was no where in sight. Atem found himself sighing. He lost his chance. Yugi was going to talk to him, and he blew it by letting Seto rile him. _Again_.

 _Stupid. Stupid. Stupid._

Atem walked on slowly as he hung his head in shame to stare at the ground. He had almost given up hope of finding Yugi until he heard the sound of footsteps. Atem looked up to see the younger teen coming out of the bathroom. Yugi caught sight of Atem, and looked hesitant, but didn't attempt to run away from him. Atem stopped immediately to stare at the other teen. As if just one tiny movement would have the other bolting in another direction. Yugi eyed him warily, but also curiously.

Atem took this chance to really get a good look at the boy. His eyes immediately zeroed in on the bruise on the bridge of his nose. It looked... terrible. Reddened scratch marks cutting into his skin over top of a nasty, purple mark. Did he really do that?

 _Apologize!_

Atem opened his mouth, but then immediately shut it. Would Yugi even accept it? Did he even want Atem's apology?

 _So? You gotta try! You can't leave it like this._

Atem took a deep breath, and walked up to Yugi.

 _Here goes nothing._

Atem stood a little ways away from the smaller boy so as not to intimidate him or anything. He looked into Yugi's eyes and opened his mouth, but hesitated.

 _Damn it. Don't bail out now._

Atem clenched his fists by his sides and sighed. Yugi watched him closely. That bruise on his nose looked awful against his pale skin. Atem cursed under his breath. Then he looked back to the boy's eyes. He tried his hardest not to pay attention to the purplish blue mark.

"Yugi, I'm... sorry." Atem mumbled. He half expected Yugi to just walk up to him and punch him in the kidney, or something equally as punishing. However, as he looked at the younger teen, the other just started to smile. Atem found himself surprised. After the ignoring, the insults, and now this whole, " _Oops, punched you in the face. Sorry about that,"_ Yugi was... smiling at him? No malice hidden within those violet eyes. Atem found himself being the one to look away this time as he turned his gaze down to his shoes. "I-I... didn't mean to do that to you. I take full responsibility for my actions. I will take whatever punishment you deem fit for my crime against you." He spoke, barely above a whisper. Out of the traits he had been nitpicking out of Seto's personality, here's one he hadn't been aware _he_ possessed - timidity.

Atem nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a gentle tap on his shoulder. He looked up sharply into the face of Yugi who was giving him a 100 watt smile.

"No punishment necessary. Your apology is all I need." Atem stared at the boy in shock. He couldn't believe it. He accepted it? Just like that? There had to be a catch.

"But I... I hurt you. Aren't you mad at me?" Yugi shook his head. Atem's shock began to fade away into warmth. Never had he known someone to be so... pure. Had it been him, he would have given a bruise right back, and it would have been twice as bad.

"Nah, it was an accident. I already knew that." Atem had to resist the very strong urge to hug the boy in front of him. It didn't feel right to just leave it at an apology. He had to repay Yugi somehow.

"Let me repay you." Atem started. Yugi began to shake his head.

"No, it's all right. You don't have to."

"I insist." Atem paused as he thought of something he could do to return the kindness bestowed upon him. But what?

"No, really. It's fine." Atem looked at Yugi hesitantly. If the boy wouldn't let him repay him in some way, what else could he do? He really didn't want to just walk away now. An idea then struck him. What if he asked Yugi if he'd like to hang out or something? Isn't that what people do when they want to get to know someone better? Atem found himself blurting it out before he had a chance to change his mind.

"Do you... want to... _hang out_..." Atem paused a moment. He was saying that correctly, right? This was so weird. "Sometime?" He finished. He felt awkward and out of place. He started to fidget with his hands as he found nothing else to do with them. He watched Yugi as the boy's face went from being pale, to flushed in a second.

"H-hang out? With you?" Atem felt his eyebrows furrow at that. What was that supposed to mean? Yugi noticed the troubled look on the older boy's face, and started to shake his head. "I mean, sorry. I just hadn't expected you to ask me that." He said sheepishly. Then he looked nervous as he quickly blurted out, "Of course! I'd love to hang out with you." Atem blinked in surprise at the eagerness. Yugi blushed fiercely, and placed his hand over his face. Atem thought he heard the other groan. He smiled. Then he thought, if they were going to hang out, wouldn't they need some way to contact each other? Atem began feeling around his pockets to find his phone. He pulled it out of his back pocket before looked back up at Yugi.

"Let me give you my number." He said as he scrolled through his contacts. Yugi looked like a deer caught in the headlights for a moment; he stood in place stiffly. Then he looked down awkwardly at his own pant's pocket before he reached his hand there to pull out his phone as well. Atem simply took Yugi's phone out of the boy's hand, and put his number in it. He likewise put Yugi's in his. After a moment of doing this, he handed Yugi back his phone. The teen took it and looked a little stunned and unsure. Atem stared at the smaller boy before he looked elsewhere. A blush returned to his face. He then placed all of his weight onto one leg, and placed his hand on his hip. "So uh, I'll call you sometime." He said, feeling that same awkwardness that had been plaguing him since the start of this conversation.

"A-all right." Yugi stumbled over his words while looking at the number in his phone. Atem gave a curt nod.

"Okay. Good. I guess I'll-" Atem was interrupted by the sound of the bell ringing that signaled the start of their next class. Yugi gave him a shy smile.

"Talk to you later, Atem." Yugi said as he raised his hand to wave, but the action felt a little awkward, so he put his hand back down and turned around to hurry off to his next class.

Atem watched the boy go feeling a little overwhelmingly giddy at what had just transpired. This is what they considered, "scoring a number," right? He grinned at his new contact. Now he could talk to Yugi whenever he wanted to.

* * *

 _Author's note:_

 _Yay, another chapter. I really wanted to get this one out yesterday night, and I ended up staying up until 4AM trying to finish it. I did finish it, but I wanted a chance to reread it. Was so tired, though, that I didn't trust myself to make an accurate assessment of my work. So I went to sleep. Yay for sleep. I fell asleep at work in the morning for a good twenty minutes. Heh._

 _Anyway, I've been working steadily on new chapters as soon as I finish them. Right after another. So you guys are kind of getting a bit of improv humor on my part. I don't have much of an outline. I'm kinda writing what comes to my mind as I go along. I just want to do this so I get all the chapters out before I get bored of the fandom or something and this story dies. That would make me sad. Mostly because I'm actually enjoying this story as ideas come to me, and of course, you guys._

 _Another thing I'd like to say is I apologize if I've offended anyone with any of the dialogue this chapter. D: Mostly on Seto's parts. I don't think lightly on domestic abuse or anything. I just wanted to make Seto a douche. :D_

 _Thank you to my reviewers who have reviewed so far, and those who have continued to review! (You know who you are, you awesome people you) I'm so pleased you like my writing. Writing to me is simply a hobby. I don't have any aspirations of being a writer, or anything like that. I don't think it's my forte. I'm a computer science major. Pretty far removed from writing. I don't think I'm particularly creative either. I thank you all for your words. You make a simple computer science major happy._

 _On another note, as I've received a request to add more shippings, which shippings would you guys like to see? Other than, of course, blindshipping. (which I just figured out recently that it wasn't puzzleshipping. Then I just felt silly. Heh heh.) I think I am sufficiently in the know on the pairings. So, which ones would interest you guys the most? I don't want to add TOO many and take too much time away from the main pairing. Mostly because if I do add another pairing, I'll feel the need to flesh it out. So choose wisely! Maybe I could make a poll or something. I can do that, right? Also, just because there are hints at blueshipping and polarshipping, doesn't mean these pairings are going to be the same throughout the rest of the story. They're all subject to change. All except the main pairing._

 _Wow this is a long ass author's note. Did you guys even read any of that? I feel like I'm gonna get reviews goin', "YAWN. TL:DR. WHY ARE YOU SPENDING YOUR TIME WRITING AUTHOR'S NOTES WHEN YOU COULD BE WRITING STORY?" Haha. Anyway, see you guys in the next chapter. Wooooo!_

 _Oh and, one last thing. Challenge totally accepted._


	4. For a good time, call the Adonis hotline

_Disclaimer: Rawr! I don't own it! None of that stuff down there. Except the plot. Maybe. I don't know, it's kind of cliche. Bah. High school fics. Know what I'm sayin'?_

* * *

 _"So, I can really call you? Whenever?" Yugi asked with a dreamy sigh escaping his lips. He stood in the sand at the beach; his feet were bare as he soaked up all the warmth it offered. The sun was setting, casting an array of oranges, reds and yellows that blended together in the sky behind him._

 _"You can call me anytime you like, Yugi." Atem's deep, baritone voice reached his ears and warmed his cheeks. Yugi looked up at the older boy who flashed him a brilliant smile. It twinkled even though the sun was setting, and hardly any light was shining on the two, and also the fact that teeth just aren't that shiny._

"Yug'? Hey, earth ta Yugi! Are you in there, bud?" A voice pierced Yugi's thoughts as he felt a flick to his forehead. Yugi blinked in confusion a few times before his eyes fell on the face of Joey who stared at him with one of his blond eyebrows raised. "Man, you were totally spacin'. Almost thought we lost ya." Yugi felt his face flush as he realized he had been zoning out. He looked around and noticed Tristan and Tea were giving him an amused look as well.

"Sorry." Yugi mumbled. The four of them were spending their afternoon at a local pizza place in town. School had just let out, and they had decided they needed a break from all the papers, tests and ridicule of the day.

Joey gave Yugi a sly grin as he asked, "What were you zonin' out about?" Yugi looked up, and felt the oncoming embarrassment from where this conversation could go.

"Yeah, you looked like you were on cloud nine." Tristan joined in with that same look upon his face. Yugi glanced between them nervously. When the smaller boy didn't answer right away, Joey gave him a slight nudge to the side with his elbow.

"C'mon, you can tell ol' Joey. Is it someone we know?"

Yugi sputtered helplessly as he tried to come up with something to tell them. "I, uh, well, you see-"

"Leave him alone, you two. He doesn't have to tell you guys anything." Tea spoke, coming to his defense. The two backed off of him. It allowed Yugi to breathe a sigh of relief. That was close.

"You're no fun." Joey pouted, but relented all the same.

Yugi had found himself daydreaming quite a lot today. He had been taking peeks at his phone all day since yesterday when he had received Atem's number. When the older boy had just taken his phone right out of his hand, and just put himself in there, Yugi had been stunned into a stupor. Atem actually gave him his number - willingly. Never in his life did he ever think getting punched in the face would be the best thing to happen to him.

"So, what do ya guys wanna do after this? Anyone up for the arcade?" Yugi heard Joey ask as he turned to the blond haired boy who had grabbed a slice of pizza to stuff into his face.

"I would definitely be up for some of that. I still owe you one for trying to beat me at Mario Kart." Tristan said as he moved his hand to grab a slice. Joey let out a snort of laughter and nearly spit his pizza out. Tea made a face, but he ignored it.

" _Trying_? Dude, I mopped the floor with you. You sure you're up for getting your ass handed to you that badly again?" Tristan growled at the blond. Normally, Yugi would have jumped at the opportunity to play some games at the arcade, but right now he was only halfway listening to their conversation. He took another glance at his phone that he held in the palm of his hand hidden in his lap. Maybe he could call Atem today when he got home. Joey noticed, but didn't say anything.

"I think I'll have to pass. I'm going to need some time to study for that history test coming up." Tea added before Tristan and Joey could start anything. Joey whined out at the mention of having a test.

"Really? Did ya have to mention that while I'm eating the food of the Gods? Some of us are trying to relax here." The blond haired teen said in exasperation. Tea just gave him a slight roll of the eyes and a shake of her head before turning to Yugi.

"What about you, Yugi? What are you going to do after this?" She asked him. The mentioned teen took another look down at his phone. All three of them noticed this time when the boy didn't answer right away. Joey's eyebrow twitched. He then reached for whatever it was that Yugi held in his hand, and swiped it out of his grasp before the smaller boy could react.

"Gimmie dat." He said as he held the phone in his hand before he raised it to eye level. Yugi panicked and made a grab for his phone, but the blond haired teen just raised it higher out of his reach. "What'chu keep lookin' at this for?" He asked absently as he scrolled through Yugi's contacts. "Got a girlfriend or somethin'?"

"Give it back, Joey!" Yugi cried out in vain. The boy didn't heed his command. Yugi groaned miserably as he sat back down in his chair in defeat. Joey continued scrolling through until his eyes landed on something peculiar.

"Atem?" The blond questioned suddenly, gaining the attention of Tristan and Tea. Yugi just blushed. "Since when did you have _Atem's_ number?"

 _Busted_.

"You have Atem's phone number, Yugi?" Tea repeated in surprise as she looked at Yugi in disbelief. "I didn't know he gave his number out to anyone." She said as she turned her gaze down at her lap. She looked a little saddened, but no one noticed. Tristan just stared at his friend in shock. Wasn't Atem the guy who always called them names? Not to mention the guy who gave Yugi the bruise on his nose?

"Yes, okay, I have his number. Can I have my phone back now?" Yugi said, feeling a little snappish. He didn't mean to be, but jeez. They didn't need to go snooping into his business. If he wanted to tell them, he would have. Joey did listen this time as he handed Yugi back his phone.

"Why do you have his number?" Joey asked with a quirk of his eyebrow. Yugi groaned. How could he say this without it sounding implicative of something more?

"I just... talked to him. Like I said I would." Yugi started. The three looked at him curiously. Yugi sighed as it seemed they weren't going to give up so easily without hearing an explanation. "We talked, he apologized, I accepted it, he wanted to repay me, so he gave me his number. That's it really." He looked up to the three who seemed to be considering his words.

"That's it? He just gave you his number? Seems a bit random." Tea said as her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion trying to make sense of the rushed story. Yugi almost let out another groan. He should have figured they'd ask more questions.

"Well he... asked me if we could... hang out sometime." When the three looked at him as if he had grown an appendage straight out of his forehead, Yugi quickly added, "Maybe."

Joey sat back in his seat and thought about that a moment. _The_ Atem? The guy who ignored most everyone except his small group of friends? Were they even talking about the same person? Joey put the remainder of what he had been eating on his plate. He put a finger to his temple and started, "Let me get this straight. You walked up to Atem, he apologized, and then he gave you his number and asked to hang out with you." When Yugi nodded, Joey continued, "So pretty much what you're telling me is, you guys bonded over him punching you in the face?" Yugi opened his mouth to defend himself, but quickly shut it when he realized he couldn't. Joey crossed his arms while looking a tad indignant. "And here I thought I'd heard it all. Here I was gettin' my butt kicked by Kaiba, and my best bed was over there findin' a _new_ best friend."

Yugi turned his head so quickly in Joey's direction he thought he heard his neck crack. "What? No! Joey!" He whined pitifully. Joey just turned his nose up to him.

"You gonna go runnin' with the popular kids now? Leave us all behind while you go ridin' dirty with your new, rich-boy friends? Please excuse us for bein' lowly peasants." Joey said with a pout.

Yugi frowned at his friend's childish behavior. "Joey, it's not like that."

Joey turned to face Yugi with a glare. "Then what is it like? 'Cause from where I'm sittin', you keep glancin' at that phone o' yours like you're expectin' somethin' while you're hangin' out with us!" Joey's cheeks puffed out like a threatened blowfish. Yugi stared down at his hands and felt guilt start creep into him. It was true, he hadn't really been paying much attention to them. He had even been daydreaming. Now he just felt horrible.

"Just drop it." Tea said suddenly. Everyone looked over to her in mild surprise. "If Yugi wants to spend his time with Atem instead of us, then let him be." She finished with a dismissive wave of her hand. She then grabbed a bottle of dressing from the table that was reserved for salads, and began pouring it over the slice of pizza on her plate with a wicked glint in her eyes. Seeing the liquid squirt out seemed to give her an odd sense of comfort. Yugi began to feel absolutely miserable about his friends' jealous behavior, and complete abhorrence of the idea of Atem hanging out with him. Yugi looked over to Tristan with pleading eyes. The brown haired boy just gave him a sympathetic smile and a shrug. Yugi turned his attention to Joey.

"Joey, you know I'd never leave you guys behind!" Joey looked over at the smaller boy. He seemed to still be upset, but after staring into those big, sad, violet eyes he relented.

"I know ya wouldn't." Joey started. Then he looked a little forlorn as he stared down at his half eaten pizza. He poked at it idly as he said, "...he hurt ya though, Yug'." Yugi sighed at that, but then smiled at his best friend's down-turned face.

"Maybe, but he seemed to really want to make it up to me. He even said he'd accept any punishment that was equal to his crime." Yugi said. Joey stared back up to him with a cheeky frown. There was a pause as Joey seemed to be considering Yugi's explanation.

"Does that mean I can punch him back?" Joey asked after a moment.

Yugi's eyes widened as he sputtered out, "What? No!" Joey chuckled at Yugi's exasperated face. He then picked his pizza back up and took a bite.

"Fine, fine. Just don't forget about us when you hang out with him, all right?" Yugi nodded at that, and gave his blond haired friend a smile. He knew he could count on Joey to support him. Even if the blond didn't like Atem all that much. Joey grinned after swallowing the food in his mouth.

"I told you guys, we should drop it. There are more important things to think about." Tea spoke, interrupting the conversation. Joey looked over at her in confusion at the temper she was sporting.

"Important things?" Yugi asked a bit timidly as he turned to give her a questioning look.

Tea turned her glare on him and said, "Yes. Things like..." She paused as she seemed to be trying to think of something to say. After a moment she continued, "Like the Halloween event coming up." Yugi tilted his head slightly at that.

"But it's the beginning of September. That event isn't for about another two months." Yugi said feeling lost, and saddened by the tone in his friend's voice. Tea still looked cross.

It was then that a car rode by the window they were sitting near. It was advertising a game about fantasy creatures. A dragon was depicted on the front looking fierce. Joey seemed to be the only one to notice it as he craned his neck to stare at it. Tristan quirked an eyebrow at his friend, but didn't comment on it for fear of getting his head bitten off by Tea.

"So? You're the class representative. You should always be-"

Tea was interrupted when Joey suddenly stood up screaming, "Seto _fucking_ Kaiba!" Tristan, Tea and Yugi stared at him as if the boy had mutated into an alien, or something equally as terrifying. Joey had his hands clenched into fists as he glared off out of the window.

After a long, pregnant silence, Yugi gingerly asked, "Uh, Joey? Are you okay?"

Joey turned around and blinked in confusion. "Yeah, why?" He asked nonchalantly.

"You just randomly yelled out Kaiba's name."

"I did?"

Yugi gave his friend a look of worry. "Yeah?" There was another pause before Joey blushed and quickly sat back down in his seat.

"I think dragons are my trigga'."

Tea stared at Joey a moment longer before turning her attention back to Yugi. "Anyway, you should be thinking about that stuff." She finished as she went back to looking annoyed. She then tossed the now empty dressing bottle off to the side. Yugi turned to her with a wounded expression.

"Okay." Was all he said. Guilt flashed through Tea's eyes before she adamantly stared somewhere else other than Yugi so as not to be swayed by his cute charm.

She then stood up from the table before saying, "I better go. I gotta study anyway." The other three watched as she turned away from them, and began walking towards the door. She looked back one last time before she pushed it open and walked out. Yugi looked like he was about to get up and go after her, but was stopped by Tristan.

"Just let her go, Yug'. She seems to have her own problems to deal with. She'll get over it." He said. When Yugi didn't look convinced he gave the smaller boy a reassuring smile. Yugi smiled weakly back before looking over his shoulder at the door. He wondered why Tea was so mad about the idea of Atem and him hanging out. The girl had always seemed to like Atem before. At least, whenever he asked her she said she didn't mind him. What changed? Tristan noticed Yugi thinking too hard on the matter, and tried saying, "She'll come around. You know Tea. She always bounces back."

Joey just shrugged. "Yeah, she'll be fine. Besides, I'm more worried about what she did to that poor pizza." The blond said with a touch of fear interlaced with his voice. Yugi was about to turn around and scold his friend for his callousness when he saw said pizza slice. It was completely drenched in the dressing sauce. So much so that the three couldn't see any of the pizza underneath. "I dare one of you to eat it." Joey said after a moment. Tristan looked sickened as his face turned a shade of blue.

"No way. That pizza's a goner." Tristan said, making sure to stay a safe distance away from the plate. Joey held his hands up as if he were about to pray.

"May it rest in peace in pizza heaven." Yugi just sighed. He wasn't really in the mood to humor the other two anymore. He looked down at his empty plate. He hadn't even eaten anything. Was he really that distracted? Now Joey's words were going to haunt him in his sleep. He wouldn't end up leaving them behind, would he? Who was he kidding? Just because Atem gave him his number didn't mean the other teen was going to be all buddy-buddy with him. Calling him nonstop, or dragging him all over town. He looked back up at Tristan and Joey who were still expressing their sincerest apologizes on Tea's behalf to the drowning pizza slice.

"I think I'm gonna head off too, guys." Yugi said, gaining the attention of the other two. Joey sat back in his seat and placed his arms behind his head.

"'Kay. Have fun talkin' to Atem." The blond replied. Yugi turned a dejected frown on Joey before he stood up from the table. Tristan kicked Joey in the shin. It had the boy howling out in pain. "The fuck, Tristan?" Tristan gave him a pointed glare. Then looked back over at Yugi. Joey's eyes followed his to see Yugi looking despondent and pitiful. Joey looked a little contrite when he noticed how his words affected the shorter boy. "Yug'." He started, but Yugi just shook his head.

"It's fine. I'll see you guys later." He said woefully. Joey and Tristan shared looks of regret, but before they could say anything, the other boy had already began walking out of the pizza parlor.

Yugi had made it back to his grandfather's game shop, and had walked up the steps to his room without even saying anything to the old man. He really didn't want to talk to anyone right now. Though, he hadn't even told his grandpa what happened when he had come back that day with a nasty bruise on his face. He would have to tell him something eventually.

Yugi walked over to his bed and flopped down onto it. Today hadn't gone nearly as well as he'd hoped it would. He took his phone out of his pocket and stared at it a moment. Then he gave it a glare and tossed it onto his desk. Yugi rolled onto his side, and turned his back on the device that had caused his friends to be upset with him.

* * *

Atem was sitting on his bed twiddling his thumbs in distress. He couldn't stop his leg from fidgeting. Every time he noticed it, he'd cease the action. Then when he wasn't paying attention to it anymore, his leg would start up its infernal jittering all over again. He kept thinking - thinking of a certain multicolored haired individual with violet eyes. He wanted to talk to him. All he had to do was make a call. He stared over at the contraption that was the cause for all of his unnecessary uneasiness. His phone lay innocently where he had placed it on his desk; it taunted him with its sleek, black surface.

 _Okay. This isn't hard. Just pick up the phone and call him._

Atem stood up and walked over to his desk. He resisted the urge to swallow the nervousness that had started to well up in his throat. He placed his hand over his phone and held it in his now somewhat sweaty palm. Atem couldn't understand for the life of him why this was so difficult for him. It was like he'd never spoken to anyone over the phone before. This feeling was ridiculous. He hardly recognized himself beneath all of the conflicting emotions he'd been smothered with the past few days. Atem flinched, and let go of the phone. He turned away and scowled at his own pathetic uncertainty.

 _Fine. Don't call him then. Just go sit somewhere and sulk. Go on then._

Were there specific protocols for things like this? Was there a time frame in which, after receiving a number, one would wait to call? Two or three days, or something like that? Or was it like, call immediately or seem uninterested? Why did he feel like a foreigner intruding upon unfamiliar territory whenever it came to his emotions concerning Yugi? He really didn't want to mess up anything he had with the other boy. Even if there wasn't much to mess up.

Atem sighed and hunched over. He then pulled out his desk chair and sat down. Placing his elbow on his desk, he leaned his chin in his palm and twiddled idly with his phone with his index finger. Maybe he just shouldn't call today. Then he wouldn't have a reason to feel so nervous. Or maybe, he could wait for Yugi to call him. The thought gave him a small comfort.

If he did call, what would they even talk about? Atem didn't even know what Yugi's hobbies or interests were. He took a moment to think about that. Well, Yugi was a member of the chess club. So, he liked chess, right? Obviously, or else he wouldn't be in it. Did that apply specifically to chess, or did he like other board games? That seemed like a question to ask Yugi.

 _There you go. Conversation topic._ _ **Now call him.**_

But what if he was busy?

 _Hopeless. Completely and utterly hopeless._

Atem couldn't believe how insecure he felt right now. This wasn't him at all. He was always sure. Always confident. Where did all that go? Is this what true... _affection_ felt like? He didn't want it anymore. Whoever gave it to him can take it back.

 _Yugi._

Atem scowled and picked up his phone. Scrolling through his contacts, he found the name of the person whose face he couldn't ignore. He pressed call and held the phone up to his ear. It was about time he took control of this nonsense.

* * *

Yugi had been lightly dozing off. He was caught somewhere between reality and dreams as his mind drifted off to random thoughts on what he would do if Atem walked in on him naked. He wasn't sure where he'd even be to have Atem walk in on him naked, but since the thought was teetering on the precipice of dreams it just seemed to make sense.

"No Atem... you can't... be here." He mumbled incoherently. It was then that a ringing sound permeated the small space of his room. Yugi's eyes scrunched up in irritation as he grumbled, "Atem, why are you calling me when you're standing right there?" When the ringing sound did not cease its incessant noise, Yugi slowly started to come back to the world of the living. He blinked the weariness from his eyes and sat up. Rubbing at one of his eyes, Yugi looked over at his desk and saw his phone light up and bounce to the vibrations it was giving off.

Perhaps Tea was calling him to talk about earlier, or maybe Joey was calling to talk about something. As he thought this, he got to his feet and walked lazily over to his phone. Yugi's eyes widened in shock when it wasn't Tea's, or Joey's name that he saw on the caller ID. Not even Tristan's. He felt his face flush as he whispered out, "Atem?" under his breath.

 _Answer it quick! Before it stops ringing!_

 _But... but._

 _Do it!_

Yugi couldn't stop the nervous feeling that tried to suffocate him as he took hold of the device and pressed down on the little, green button. He moved it up to his ear, and mumbled, "H-hello?"

There was a pause on the other end. Yugi almost thought the other teen had hung up or something until he heard that deep, rich voice that belonged to none other than Atem.

"Hey, Yugi." Yugi felt his heart flutter in his chest. Atem called him. He actually called him! Yugi couldn't believe this was happening right now. What should he say? "This isn't a bad time, is it?" Yugi heard Atem ask when he had yet to say anything.

"N-no! It's not. I was just dreaming about yo- I mean I was sleeping!" Yugi waved air into his face to try and calm himself down. He did _not_ almost just say that.

"Oh, did I wake you?" The voice sounded concerned. Yugi shook his head, then realized Atem couldn't actually see him.

"No! Well, yes, but it's okay." The other boy chuckled. Yugi waved faster.

"Good." There was another pause. Yugi stood there trying to think of something to say. He'd been anticipating this moment ever since yesterday. Now that it was here, he didn't know what to do. The way he'd embarrassed himself at the theater still fresh in his mind. "How is your... uh... nose?" Atem asked him as if he had heard Yugi's thoughts to break the silence.

"It's uh, it's good. It doesn't hurt anymore." Yugi said as he raised his hand to touch the sensitive spot. He delicately traced over the area with his fingertips.

"Good. That's good." He heard Atem say. He sounded as unsure as Yugi felt. "So, what are you... up to?"

Yugi walked over to his bed and sat down. "I was sleeping, and now I'm talking to you." Yugi thought he heard Atem curse darkly.

"Right. You said that already." Another stretch of silence.

"Um, what were you up to?" Yugi asked of the other boy.

"Sitting." Was the terse reply he received.

Yugi fidgeted with the hem of his white undershirt. "Oh. That sounds... fun." A grunt was the only thing he heard in response.

 _Good talk._

Yugi sighed to himself. Out of all the ways he had envisioned this conversation to go, it just had to take _this_ turn.

 _Ask him what he's wearing. That should spice things up._

"What _were_ you doing?" Atem amended, disrupting Yugi's thoughts.

"Oh, uh..." He trailed off. His time at the pizza parlor came back to his mind; about how hard a time his friends had given him about the person he was talking to now. Yugi looked down to his lap as he felt that sadness from before come back to him. "I was eating pizza with my friends."

"Sounds pleasant." Even hearing Atem's voice wasn't helping uplift Yugi's downward spiraling mood.

"Yeah, it was. At least until we had an argument." Yugi replied forlornly.

"I see." There was a moment's hesitation before Yugi heard Atem ask, "Do you want to talk about it?" The younger teen found himself smiling despite his dampened spirits.

Yugi fell back onto his bed. "It was silly." He said with a sigh.

"What was it about?"

 _You._

"Nothing important."

 _Yeah right._

"It's important if it's upsetting you, Yugi." Yugi felt that fluttery feeling in his chest again. Atem was so charming. The feeling started to take over the sadness.

"It's just, my friends seem to think I'm going to do something horrible." That sounded vague enough so as not to insinuate anything. Yugi heard Atem snort in amusement.

"You? Do something horrible? I find that hard to imagine." Yugi pouted when Atem said this. He wasn't _that_ goodie-goodie, was he?

"I can be mean." Yugi tried to ignore how childish his voice sounded to his ears.

"Really?" Atem started in clear amusement. "What's the worst thing you've ever done? Put a lego under someone's foot?"

"No..." He wouldn't do that. That actually sounded really mean. Yugi heard Atem chuckle.

"Okay, I'll humor you. What have you done that's mean?"

Yugi took a moment to think about that. "Well, there was this one time, Joey and me were ordering pizza, and it was my turn to order. Joey wanted a pepperoni pizza, but I didn't."

Atem let out another chuckle. "All right. What did you do?" He asked - amusement still evident in his tone.

"I ordered Hawaiian pizza." Yugi said triumphantly. There was a moment's hesitation before Yugi heard Atem let out a boisterous laugh. Yugi began to pout. After a moment, Atem managed to calm his mirth into the occasional snort of laughter.

"That's the meanest you've ever been?" The older teen asked jovially.

"It was mean for Joey. He takes pizza very seriously." Yugi said as he continued to pout. Atem just kept up with that snickering of his.

"You know, it doesn't count if you ordered the pepperoni pizza right after." Yugi could hear the smugness in the other's tone.

"Well, of course I did. That would have been me-" Yugi then realized he had been tricked. He let out an " _ahem_ " to imply it had been a slip of the tongue. "I mean, I did no such thing."

Yugi heard Atem make a sound. It sounded almost like a hum. A deep, throaty sound that sent chills up his arms to raise the skin into bumps along the way. It was as if a cold wind had blown through his room. Though he wasn't cold. On the contrary, he found himself a little too hot.

"You're so damn cute." The words were whispered so softly. As if Atem were imparting to him a well kept secret. So quietly, Yugi wasn't even sure if he had heard him speak at all. What did he say?

"Atem?" Yugi was embarrassed to note how breathless he sounded.

He heard Atem cough a couple of times to break the spell he had unwittingly cast. "Well, whatever horrible thing they think you'd do, I know you won't do it." Yugi found himself surprised by the certainty in the other's voice. Atem seemed to be recollecting something as his voice then softened, but not so quietly so as not to be heard. "You're one of the most kind individuals I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, Yugi. I don't have to know what happened between you and your friends to know you would never treat them unjustly." Yugi felt his skin heat up even more at the fondness in Atem's tone. Was it just him, or did the older boy sound like he admired him? It sounded so... sweet. Did he also just say he found meeting Yugi to be a pleasure? Yugi could have melted away at that moment. Whatever sad feeling he had been feeling before had melted right along with him.

 _Don't say anything stupid to ruin the moment. Just say thank you, or something._

"Even if Seto Kaiba sets the bar pretty low." Atem muttered under his breath. Yugi didn't even hear him as he closed his eyes, and allowed a small smile to find its way to his lips.

 _Atem likes me! I mean, sort of, right? He wouldn't have said any of those things otherwise._

"Uhm, Yugi?" When Yugi didn't respond, Atem seemed to get nervous as he said, "That sounded weird, didn't it? I apologize. I know I don't really know you _that_ well. I just... it's just a feeling. You just seem like the nicer sort." Atem then paused as he noticed he was rambling. "I should just stop talking."

"No!" Yugi suddenly shouted. He didn't want Atem to stop speaking. "I like it when you talk." He kind of blurted that last part out without really thinking about it. Yugi felt his cheeks flush. Did he really just say that?

 _What happened to_ not _saying something stupid? I liked that plan._

There was a long pause on the other end of the line before Atem quietly asked, "...You do?" Yugi couldn't quite tell how Atem was feeling with that response.

"I'm so sorry. I don't know what I was thinking." Yugi rushed out. How embarrassing.

"...It's fine. It was just unexpected." Maybe Yugi could hang up right now and blame it on a bad connection later. "I like it when you talk too." Oh, how in the world was he going to get out of this? What could he possibly say to make _that_ sound right- wait what?

"H-huh?"

"I probably shouldn't have said that." Atem mumbled. There was an even longer pause as neither dared to say anything. Yugi vaguely recalled this as being one of his fears of how their conversation over the phone could go. Listening to each other breathe. Thankfully, it was broken when Atem asked, "So, do you have any hobbies?" Yugi felt relieved when the awkward silence passed.

"I play a lot of games." Yugi inwardly chided himself for how nerdy that sounded.

 _Now you sound like a kid_ and _a nerd. Nice one. Why couldn't you have said you did something manly? Like, that you play a sport? HA. Just kidding, don't say that._

"What kinds of games?" Atem asked, sounding genuinely interested. It gave Yugi the confidence to continue.

"I like anything really. Board games, console games, computer games. If it's good, I'll play it. I'm pretty good, actually. No one can beat me." Yugi stated proudly. Talking about games was something he was familiar with. He found his voice coming out much more firm and sure talking about his favorite hobby.

"Is that why you're in the chess club?" Atem asked him curiously.

"Yep! I love chess. Definitely one of my favorite board games." Yugi replied feeling a lot more at ease.

"If you can't be beat, then why is Seto Kaiba the president, and you only the vice president?" Yugi could practically see the other smirking in his mind. He gained a smirk of his own at the question.

"Kaiba's only the president because he started the club. Not because he could beat me." Yugi heard the other snicker at his reply.

"You sound so sure of that." Yugi was about to reply with a confident affirmation of his statement, but was cut off when Atem continued with, "I could beat you." Yugi was surprised by the sheer confidence in the older teen's voice. No, "I bet," no "Maybe's," just a statement that left no room for debate. Yugi felt his pride surface at the threat to it.

"Nuh uh. I don't mean I'm a little good. I'm _really_ good." There's no way Atem could beat him. No one could. Even the great Seto Kaiba met his match in a battle of wits whenever it came to their chess matches. Joey and Tristan could barely hold their own against him at practically any of the games in the arcade.

"I don't doubt you." Atem said with a gruff chuckle. "I could still beat you. I'm an expert myself at games. Video, or board games." Yugi found this bit of information to be pleasantly surprising. Atem and him shared an interest?

"You play games?"

"You sound so surprised." Atem replied.

"It's just," Yugi began, thinking about how to word what he would say next. "You just don't seem like the kind of person who would play around." Atem was always so serious. Playing video games just didn't seem like something he'd take an interest in. Yugi heard Atem let out a husky chuckle. A low-pitched noise that had an alluring quality to it. The sound caused his body to tremor slightly.

"I don't." Atem's voice came out deep, almost sultry. "I play to win, and I play for keeps." Yugi wasn't sure how he did it, but Atem made playing video games sound sexy. The comforter underneath him was starting to make him feel way too hot.

 _Is it really the comforter?_

Yugi absently used his other hand to lift his shirt up, exposing the smooth skin of his stomach to cool off.

"Is that so?" Yugi asked. His voice came out airless and light to his ears. Atem let out another one of those hums. It sounded almost like a moan, just way more aggressive. It seemed the older boy liked the sound he had managed to get Yugi to make.

"I would dominate you. Think you could handle it, _Yugi_?" Atem's voice was like a wonderful, deep, rich melody to his ears that forced a sigh to escape his parted lips. Were they still talking about games? Yugi's eyelids felt heavy as a smirk pulled at the corners of his mouth.

With courage that seemed to come from nowhere, Yugi called out, "I'd like to see you try, _Atem_."

Atem was still sitting in his chair leaned over his desk when Yugi had said that to him. The words alone set fire to his skin. Made his pulse a little bit faster. Had his mind slowing down. He let out a guttural sound, unable to stop it from escaping his throat. He felt like a predator stalking his prey just to be taunted by it. Could hear the challenge in the other's voice. It practically screamed, "Come and get me then." Yugi didn't even know the effect his words had on him. Atem licked his lips. They were suddenly quite dry.

If that wasn't an invitation, Atem didn't know what was. If only this wasn't over the phone. He wished so much that he could see Yugi right now. Oh, how he would punish that mouth of his for daring to challenge him. Bite it, torture it, lick it and nip it. Atem shook his head. He needed to calm himself down before he said something he may end up regretting. All right, he needed to say something to change the subject quickly.

" _Yugi._ " Did he have to sound so aroused? He couldn't shake himself free of the spell placed upon him. It was as if he'd been charmed.

It didn't help when Yugi let out a sultry, " _Hmm?_ "

How could someone _do_ that over the damn phone? It just wasn't fair. He did start it, but he couldn't help it. His thoughts went south the moment he thought about _playing_ with Yugi. Freaking hormones. Though, the more he kept hearing Yugi's voice, the more he kept asking himself,

 _Why in the hell are you trying to stop this?_

"You might think you're good, but I'm the king." Atem decided he didn't mind taking the risk. The whole point of this call was to take control of his emotions towards Yugi anyway. The awkwardness he always felt around the smaller boy was getting on his nerves.

"Prove it." Yugi's tone sent shivers down Atem's _everything_. Straight down south. He grinned. It probably looked feral with the way his shoulders were hunched with his forearms on his desk; his head hung low.

"I could show you a few tricks, if you'd like."

 _Like you'd have a choice._

"What would we play?" How Yugi managed to sound innocent and sexy at the same time was a mystery to him. It was a quality that seemed to be specific to the smaller boy alone. Atem growled. It practically forced itself out of his throat without his consent.

" _Anything you want._ " He was surprised that came out relatively tame. He was sure it was going to come out something like, " _I will eat you._ "

When Yugi let out an airy sigh by way of a reply, Atem knew if he was in the other teen's presence he would have lost all inhibitions. He had been infatuated with Yugi for so long. For the other to be reciprocating these feelings was making his head spin. At least, it seemed like Yugi shared his feelings. There was just no other explanation.

Atem was about to tell Yugi just what he'd do to him if he kept taunting him like that, when another voice yelled out forcefully,

" _ **Atem**_ _!_ " The tanned boy almost fell backwards out of his chair when he had sat up quick enough to give himself whiplash.

 _No._

Atem looked towards his door in horror as it was thrown open to reveal his father. He didn't get a chance to say anything as his father stalked up to him looking quite terrifying. The older man snatched the phone right out of Atem's hand causing him to try and grab it back without really thinking about it.

"Just _what_ do you think you're doing?" Atem immediately froze. Slowly, he raised his head to look up at his father's face. Had he heard them?

 _No. No. No._

"We were just... talking about games." Yes, games. That's all.

"I don't care what you were talking about. I just got a call from your history teacher. He says you haven't turned in any of the homework. I _thought_ you said you would do better." Atem couldn't keep himself from sighing.

"Oh, thank God."

His father looked fierce as he asked, "What?"

"I mean, I am! I-"

"I don't want to hear any of your excuses." His father said as he waved off any attempts Atem made to explain himself. The older man then raised the phone to his ear and yelled harshly into it, "Who is this?" Atem could do little more than stand there in complete horror.

Yugi had heard the loud, booming, authoritative voice of another person on the other end of the line. The slamming had him sitting up abruptly feeling panicked. When the voice asked him a question, it had Yugi replying meekly with, "Y-Yugi Muto, sir."

The cutting edge to the man's tone did not wane as he asked, "Well, Yugi Muto, did you enjoy your conversation with my son?" Yugi's face flushed so bright and hot he thought his head might explode. He choked on his own words before they could leave his mouth.

"W-what?" It came out so high-pitched it sounded more like an incoherent squeak rather than a word.

"Because he's grounded. There will be no more of this. You understand me, boy?" Yugi didn't think he could get any more mortified.

"Yes sir!"

It was as if some higher power had heard him and decided, oh yes, his humiliation could get much worse, when the door to his bedroom was thrown open. Yugi looked up in shock to see his grandpa looking irritated.

"Grandpa?" Yugi muttered out in surprise. The old man walked over to him and set a glare upon his grandson.

"I have had it up to here with you shutting yourself up in your room without telling me what happened." He said in evident frustration. Yugi blinked at him in confusion before he remembered the bruise on his nose. He extended a hand to cover it.

"I-I meant to tell you!"

"Were you in a fight? If you don't start explaining-" He stopped mid-sentence when he noticed Yugi held a phone in his hand. He snatched it out of his grandson's grasp. Yugi let out a yelp.

"Wait! Grandpa! I'll tell you!"

The old man raised the phone to his ear before yelling into it. "Joey, if this is you, you better tell me what happened to my grandson!"

Yugi ran his hands through his hair. He couldn't believe this was happening.

"And just who is this?" Yugi could hear the booming voice of Atem's father from where he was sitting on his bed.

"I am Yugi's grandfather." His grandpa started in surprise at hearing a much older voice than he had been expecting. "Who am I speaking to?"

"My name is Aknamkanon. I am the father of the boy your grandson was talking to." He said as he turned to Atem to glare at him.

Solomon looked down at Yugi who was still sitting on his bed looking tormented. "You have another friend?" The older man's voice snapped him out of his daze.

"His name is Atem. He's the one who hit me-" Yugi had said that without really thinking about it, but was interrupted the moment the words left his mouth.

"He hit you?! That's how you got that bruise?" His grandfather shouted. Yugi then realized his mistake.

"It was an accident!" Yugi didn't think anyone even heard him as the shouting over the phone increased in volume.

"You got into a fight with someone at school, Atem? And you gave him a _bruise?_ How bad is this injury? I thought I taught you better than that." Aknamkanon shouted at his son. Atem's eyes widened. His mouth opened, but no words came out. He ended up just looking like a fish out of water trying desperately to breathe. His father turned his attention back to the phone. "I deeply apologize on my son's behalf. I will see to it that you are reimbursed for any medical expenses incurred as a result of my son's foolishness. I only hope that may be enough for the trouble that has been caused."

Solomon's expression changed quickly from angered to rather pleased. "Oh, well, if you insist. I'm sure we can work something out." Yugi's blush just deepened in embarrassment at his grandfather's avarice.

"Grandpa! Don't use me to negotiate deals for money!" He yelled in exasperation. Solomon turned to Yugi with his previous irritation showing on his face.

"You are grounded!" Yugi's eyes widened in surprise. "For getting into a fight and not telling me about it." The short boy felt the heat in his face all the more at his grandfather's words.

"But! It was an accident!"

"No buts!" The older man chastised. Yugi shrank away at the heated look in his grandfather's eyes.

Aknamkanon glared over at Atem who continued to make his best impression of a fish. "I am disappointed in you, Atem." This snapped Atem out of his stupor. The tone in his father's voice had him looking down at the ground in shame. Now he felt mortified _and_ miserable.

"I..." Atem started, but there really wasn't much he could think of to say.

"I'll be taking this." His father gestured towards Atem's phone. He then turned to face his son's desk. A very expensive computer sat upon it. "And this." He said as he picked up the tower. Atem watched his father struggle to keep the machine from slipping out of his grip while he simultaneously tried to keep the phone next to his ear. If Atem didn't feel so humiliated, he might have laughed. His father then walked to the open door to his son's bedroom. Aknamkanon tried to shut it with his feet on his way out, but it didn't seem to be working.

Atem continued to watch his father with an expression caught somewhere between mortification and amusement. The dignified man made a few more attempts before he glared over his shoulder at his son.

"Shut this, will you? You're not allowed out." He then stood up straight and walked out.

* * *

 _Author's note:_

 _Kay so, this chapter took a lot longer than intended. :D I can explain!_

 _Okay, so, I was typing away at this chapter, and for some reason, after every two or three sentences, I got distracted. I ended up looking up youtube videos of Kpop songs, and other random stuff. I'd be all like, type type type, oh mah gosh! Big Bang! Top, why you so sexy?! And then nothing would get done. :D_

 _Ahem, anyway, I'd like to take a moment to say, holy shit guys, this is THE longest story I've EVER written in my LIFE._

 _I kid you not, I have never made it passed the third chapter in ANY story I've ever written._

 _Please take a moment of your time to give me a slow clap._

 _Thank you, thank you very much. I shall now take a bow._

 _I just feel so pleased that I was able to share this achievement with the Yu Gi Oh fandom. Thank you all for your support! I hope you continue to read this story, as I will try my hardest to keep up with it._

 _And yah, who totally didn't see a steamy conversation between Atem and Yugi about video games coming? Heh heh._

 _Anyway! Thanks for reading, reviewing, following, favoriting my story. I hope to see you all in the next chapter!_


	5. Introducing the Thieves

_Disclaimer: Blah blah blah don't own anything blah._

* * *

Atem thought he was handling his embarrassment from the phone incident quite well. Indeed, he always did have a dignified way he dealt with situations that involved his complete humiliation.

Atem tore off a piece of his notebook paper, and rolled it up into a little ball. Then, placing it between his thumb and index finger, he flicked it towards the back of Yugi's head. The little, paper ball got stuck in the smaller teen's thick head of hair.

Yes, he handled all of his problems with the utmost dignity and confidence.

Atem watched as Yugi lifted his hand to feel for whatever it was that had made contact with his hair. His hand just missed its target. Finding nothing, Yugi then turned slightly in his seat to look behind himself for whoever might have thrown something at him. Atem quickly averted his gaze off, and out of the window, looking nonchalant.

Now it might not seem like it, but the tanned boy really did want Yugi's attention. It was just when Yugi turned to look, even just in his general direction, it had Atem feeling all sorts of weird, butterfly sensations in his stomach mixed with something akin to horror. This reaction lead Atem to believe he might possibly be traumatized, and that he might be experiencing some form of post traumatic stress. Yes, that had to be it.

It just felt weird for him seeing Yugi after that little incident. Thinking back on it, it had been wonderful. No, more than simply "wonderful." That word didn't give the moment the justice it rightfully deserved. It had been _amazing_. Never did Atem think he could get that turned on by a conversation over the phone. It had just been so... so _sexy_. He was just glad his father hadn't seen the effects it had had on him.

Seeing Yugi right in front of him, though, it had him feeling conflicted. Over the phone was one thing, actually seeing the person he had been infatuated with for a good two and half years after having said steamy conversation was totally different. Atem found himself trying to come to terms with the fact that he lost all of his confidence when he could actually see Yugi.

It had been a few days since that moment occurred. The two of them had fallen back into their previous cycle of ignoring each other. No petty insults from Atem, no looks from Yugi. Atem vaguely wondered if Yugi was also suffering from post traumatic stress.

Atem summoned up the courage to make another attempt at getting the younger boy's attention. Tearing off another piece of his paper, he rolled it into a ball. He then flicked it at Yugi. This one bounced off the boy's shoulder to land on his desk. Yugi picked up the tiny, paper ball to look at it before he glanced behind himself again with a frown. Atem panicked, and looked away.

 _How mature. Why don't you shoot spit balls at him next? Or maybe get a paper airplane caught in his hair?_

Perhaps he was going about this the wrong way. Maybe he should change his approach. Perhaps to something that he'd be more comfortable with until he could summon up the nerve to actually look at the teen's face. Like, a note, or something. Baby steps. Yes, baby steps.

Atem took a minute to stare up at their boring history teacher giving a boring lecture. At least he hadn't fallen asleep. He was too antsy for that. The instructor was oblivious to Atem's antics. He looked back down at his notebook on his desk. He then tore out a piece of paper that wasn't ripped, and laid it out. Atem took up his pencil, and then placed it close to the piece of paper. He stared at it for a long moment feeling at a loss.

Now, if only he knew what to write. He thought for a moment before just writing whatever came to his mind.

 _"Hi there, Yugi! Doing all right today? Yeah? Good! So, about that phone sex,"_

Atem stared at the page before quickly erasing what he had written. He couldn't call it phone sex. What was he thinking? He shook his head, then placed his pencil back to the paper.

 _"Hey Yugi, listen, about that conversation we had a few days ago. It was a little heated, but maybe we should just pretend it didn't happen."_

Atem lifted his pencil up from the page. He couldn't help but feel a little sad at that. He didn't want to forget it happened. Atem wondered if Yugi wanted to forget it happened. That thought made him feel even more disgruntled. He erased what he had written.

 _"Yugi, we should really talk about what happened that time over the phone. There's something I've been meaning to tell you. I apologize in advance for my cowardice at not telling you in person, but... I like you. Not a little bit, but a lot. I've had these feelings for a long time now, and I just really wanted to tell you. I'm tired of being nervous around you all the time. I really like you, Yugi. We should have more of those conversations in the future."_

The tanned boy stared at the piece of paper before shaking his head.

 _Getting a little ahead of yourself there, aren't you Romeo?_

Atem erased the text, but then balled the paper up just to make sure. He then threw it somewhere off to his right; hitting a disgruntled classmate on the side of the face. The boy turned a vicious glare upon his assailant, which Atem paid no attention to. He took another sheet of paper from his notebook to start anew.

 _"Yugi, I've been meaning to talk to you about what happened a few days ago. About that phone conversation. I know it was a bit awkward, but I just wanted to let you know I didn't mind it. I'd like to talk to you more. It was nice getting to know you better. And hey, if you're up for it, let's play a game. -Atem"_

Atem smiled, feeling content. That sounded pretty good, actually. On to the next phase of his plan. He folded the paper into a neat, little square. Now, how did this work exactly? He'd never passed notes before. Atem looked over to Yugi to note the boy was sitting much closer to the front compared to his spot close to the back. Atem gave one more look up at the instructor before reaching out a hand to tap on the shoulder of the girl sitting in front of him. She turned to look at him. Seeing that it was Atem who was trying to get her attention had her smiling so wide that the boy wondered if it hurt. He handed her the note, and then pointed at Yugi; trying his best not to attract the attention of their teacher. The girl took the note. Her face then changed into a look of serious determination as she gave him a curt nod. She even gave a mock salute.

Atem leaned back in his chair with a relieved sigh. That was far easier than he expected. Now all he had to do was try his hardest not to fall asleep while he waited for Yugi's reply. Seemed easy enough.

After a few minutes, Atem was near about nodding off when he got a tap on his shoulder from behind. He turned around to see a boy with his hand outstretched with a familiar, folded note. Atem took it feeling a little confused. Why had his note come from the guy behind him? He figured the girl in front of him would have returned it.

With a shrug, Atem began unfolding the piece of paper. He was starting to feel a bit anxious. What if Yugi didn't want to talk to him after all of that? That would be strange though, right? Yugi did play along with the sexy innuendo talk. He was thinking about it too much. If Yugi didn't want to talk to him after that, then he would just have to find another way to convince the boy to speak with him again.

Carefully, the paper was spread out, but what Atem saw was not anything close to what he had been expecting. There, on the note, were a bunch of random messages from a bunch of different people. Messages such as,

 _"omg, like i ttly think atem is SOOO cute."_

 _"u guys wanna hang out l8ter? call me!"_ A phone number was underneath the message.

 _"man, amber is such a slut. i saw the way she was looking at seto. bitch knows hes mine!"_

 _"PENISSSSS"_

 _"lol vagina"_

 _"so like, theres gonna be a party at my house later."_ An address was underneath the message.

Little doodles were scattered about the paper as well. Little rainbows, little smiley faces, a random (very detailed) picture of a thumbs up and a doodle of a penis. Atem stared at the paper in mortified exasperation. His own note was completely drowned out by the foolish messages. He didn't think Yugi even saw it. Atem glowered at the stupid piece of paper before balling it up and tossing it over to his right again. The wad of paper hit the same boy in the same spot.

"Dude, what the fuck?"

Now what was he going to do? The note thing was probably not a good idea anyway. Perhaps it was a sign. Atem sighed deeply. He would just have to get over himself and confront Yugi in person.

Atem's thoughts were disturbed when he heard a knock at the classroom door. The students watched with varying degrees of confusion and wonder as their history teacher stopped in his lecture to walk towards the source of the interruption. Opening it, he stepped out to talk to whoever was on the other side. Atem let out a yawn. Was there really still thirty minutes of this class left to go?

Atem looked back up when their teacher walked back into the room. The man cleared his throat to garner the attention of his students.

"Class, I have an announcement to make." He started. The students looked around at each other in wonder. Some whispering quietly to one another. "We have two new students who will be joining us. Everyone, I'd like you all to give a warm welcome to Ryou and Bakura." Atem found himself mildly intrigued when two silver haired teens walked through the door to the front of the class. They looked quite alike. Just one of them looked more kind while the other had a sinister gleam in his brown eyes.

"Hello, I'm Ryou. It's nice to meet you all." The nicer looking one of the two said with a bow. The other one, Bakura, just grunted and looked around the classroom with a bored expression. The classroom erupted into whispers and girlish squeals.

"All right, all right. Settle down." The history teacher said with a huff. He then turned to the two new students. "The both of you can sit wherever you'd like." Ryou nodded with a bright smile before looking around for a place to sit. Girls all around him looked giddy with delight when his eyes fell upon them. He didn't seem all too interested in them, however. His eyes then fell on Yugi, who had a seat open to his right. Yugi noticed, and gave the other a bright smile of his own. The silver haired boy walked over to him, and sat down beside him.

Bakura looked rather displeased with his choices in seating arrangements. He looked around the classroom until his eyes landed on another set of eyes that looked almost as mischievous as his own. Marik looked uninterested for the most part until he looked up at Bakura's face. The two broke out into the most wicked grins practically simultaneously. Bakura sauntered over to the tanned skinned boy, and sat down beside him.

"All right, now we can continue where we left off..." The history teacher continued to lecture about things that none of the people in the classroom seemed to care much about.

* * *

Yugi had been sitting quietly in his seat pondering about a certain multicolored haired, tan, sexy guy (also of the random paper balls flying in his direction) when the two new students had walked in. He had given Ryou an amicable smile when the silver haired boy had sat down beside him.

It wasn't long before the class ended, and students were walking out of the classroom. Some lagging behind to stare at the two new students. Yugi looked over at Ryou who was in the process of putting his things back into his bag.

"I'm Yugi, by the way. It's nice to meet you, Ryou." The silver haired boy stopped in his task to look over at the multicolored haired teen. He then smiled pleasantly.

Joey spoke up from Yugi's left with, "Yeh, haven't seen too many new people come here." He grinned widely at Ryou, and extended to him his hand. "Name's Joey."

Ryou shook the offered hand before saying, "It's nice to meet you guys."

"Where are you from?" Yugi asked. Ryou turned his attention back to the smaller boy.

"I'm from Britain. Just moved here with my brother not too long ago." Joey got up from his seat to walk around closer to the new student. He gave him a friendly pat to the shoulder as he said,

"Hey, that's cool man."

Yugi decided to make conversation with this new, potential friend; feeling pleased to have met someone nice. "Why did you guys decide to move here?" Ryou seemed happy to oblige.

"Ah. We moved here because our parents wanted a change."

Yugi nodded in understanding. He then felt a little hesitant as he asked, "Did you and your brother not want to come here?" Ryou chuckled at the unsure look on the shorter boy's face.

"On the contrary, we were just fine with coming here. Well, I was. We were... kind of notorious back home." Joey looked interested in hearing an explanation to Ryou's story.

"Notorious? For what?" The blond asked curiously.

The silver haired teen let out a somewhat nervous laugh. "Well... Bakura and I were... well, to put it mildly, we were pick pockets and shop lifters. People didn't really like us all too much."

Yugi looked surprised by Ryou's admission. "Were you guys poor?" The smaller boy nearly slapped himself. That sounded rude. Thankfully, Ryou didn't seem to mind as he said,

"No. It was more for sport between my brother and I. It's a long story. It's not important." Ryou said as he let out another nervous chuckle.

It was then that the other new student caught Yugi's eye. He looked over Ryou's shoulder to see Bakura sitting with one of Atem's friends. The two seemed to get along quite well if their shouting and loud laughter was any indication. Yugi watched as a boy walked by the two of them, and saw Bakura discreetly stick a leg out to trip the unsuspecting student. The boy fell over the foot into an ungraceful heap on the floor. The two just laughed as if it was the most hysterical thing in the world.

"And uhm, that's your brother, right?" Yugi asked with a tinge of incredulity in his tone. Ryou followed Yugi's stare to look over his own shoulder to see a male student trying to get up from the floor only to have his brother push him back over with his foot. Bakura and Marik laughing all over again at the other's misfortune. Ryou glared in irritation at the display.

"Bloody hell." Ryou muttered under his breath. "Yes... that's him." Yugi laughed sheepishly before trying to turn his attention back to Ryou.

"He seems... uh, pleasant."

"No, he's really not." Ryou said simply. Tristan, who had actually been trying to write notes this class period, got up from his seat to walk over to the three.

"Man, what's up with that guy?" He asked when he noticed where everyone was staring.

"Aside from being an asshole, nothing really." Ryou retorted dismissively, turning his head back in front of himself. Joey looked peeved, but looked back over to Ryou.

"You two are really related?" The blond questioned. The silver haired teen merely shrugged.

"Twins, actually." Yugi found himself surprised by that. The resemblance was obviously there, it was just...

Yugi watched as Bakura reached into the boy's pocket, and took out his wallet. Then proceeded to take his money. He then tossed the wallet back onto the student's back. The multicolored haired boy found himself somewhat appalled. Ryou noticed the look in Yugi's eyes, and turned back around to see his brother's actions. He seemed to become even more annoyed than before.

"He's not usually this bad. He gets worse when he has someone to show off for." Ryou then stood up and turned to face his brother completely. " _Bakura._ " He shouted at the other. Bakura froze for a second, then turned his gaze on his twin. "Give that kid back his money." Bakura raised his hand to open and close his fingers in a mocking way at Ryou's reprimand, but he tossed the money back at the boy anyway. Ryou shook his head in irritation before sitting back down in his seat. He forced a smile at the three around him. "He grows on you. At least, after a really long time." At the unsure look in their eyes, he added, "Really." Though, his own smile faltered.

"I can... see the resemblance." Yugi spoke trying not to sound rude. Ryou gave him an incredulous look.

"Really? I can't." The silver haired teen said with a huff.

When Bakura yelled out, " _Twat,_ " to his brother's turned back, Ryou's face fell into a crooked half-smile. A visible vein formed on his temple.

"Sometimes I like to tell people he was adopted. Helps keep me sane." His tone stayed even and steady despite his expression and obvious vexation.

"Eh heh..." Yugi laughed out sheepishly. His smile looked forced.

"Anyway... lunch is about to start. You can totally hang with us if ya want, Ryou." Joey spoke up, trying to defuse some of the awkwardness. Ryou's expression changed into a genuinely happy one.

"Thanks. That's really considerate of you guys." Yugi recovered from his previous state of uneasiness. He gave Ryou an amicable smile.

"Yeah! You should join us." He chirped.

"I don't see how I could possibly refuse at this point." Ryou replied with a charming smile. Tristan then gained the attention of the group as he said,

"Well all right then. Off we go." The brunet then lead the way towards the door of the classroom.

"Hold ya horses, Tristan." Joey called out as he made a move to follow his friend. He put his hands in his pockets and walked a couple of steps before coming to an abrupt halt. Yugi stared at his blond friend curiously as the taller boy began to give himself a pat down.

"You all right, Joey?" The smallest of the group asked. Joey felt around a bit longer before turning to give his friend a confused look of his own.

"I can't find my wallet." He said disdainfully. He then started practically frisking himself in a vain attempt to find said wallet. "I just had it in my pocket like two seconds ago." Ryou let out a nervous laugh behind the two.

"You sure you had it in your pocket?" Yugi asked trying to be helpful. Joey's face contorted into a look of irritation when he couldn't find what he sought.

"Yeah, I'm sure." He snapped out. Ryou then got up from his seat, and ran over to the blond. He held out his hands with a little, brown wallet.

"Sorry, habit." He muttered out with a rueful grin. Joey plucked the wallet from Ryou's fingers with a perturbed expression showing on his face. When Ryou saw Joey looking unsure and displeased, he placed his hand behind his head to scratch idly at silver locks. "It's like I'm the descendant of a legendary thief or something." He let out another nervous laugh. When Joey didn't look amused, Ryou quickly gave the boy an exaggerated bow. "I promise I won't do it again." The blond just kept staring at him with an unreadable look in his brown eyes.

Yugi let out an "Ahem," to break the weird mood. "Well, let's get going. Don't want to lose our spot!" He said in a nervous manner as he walked over to Joey to push the other boy towards the door. Ryou followed behind them at a bit of a slower pace.

* * *

Atem was going to approach Yugi after class about what he had been thinking about before, but that new kid had just been all over the smaller boy. _Clearly_ , there had been no opening in which to walk up to his crush to inform him of his thoughts.

It wasn't because he was a coward, or that he couldn't work up the nerve to say anything in front of a crowd. Nope. None of that. Please.

He _definitely_ hadn't been standing there behind Yugi and his friends trying to think of some elaborate way he could get the shortest boy alone to talk to him in private instead of just walking up to verbally ask the question. That would have been too easy. Atem just didn't know what he would _do_ if he didn't present himself with unreasonably difficult challenges in his life. He would probably just flop over and die. Yes, that's probably what would happen.

Atem was practically _radiating_ resentment in his spot at the cafeteria table. So much so that even Seto involuntarily scooted away from him. The tan boy lifted his fork up, and then threw it down to stab the meatloaf offered by the school that was sitting on his styrofoam plate. The other person at the table, Isis, was giving her cousin a perplexed grimace at his behavior. From her spot sitting across from the tanned boy, she moved over to sit across from Seto.

After a few more stabs, Seto spoke up with, "Okay, I don't know what the hell that meatloaf did to you, but even it doesn't deserve _that_." Atem stilled mid-stab. His head swiveled mechanically on his shoulders like a creepy doll's. The other two at the table could practically hear the creaking in his neck. The glare he sent Seto reading, " _I will stab you through your retina, and pierce your brain with my plastic spork of doom."_ If Seto wasn't Seto Kaiba, he might have actually gulped out of nervous fear. But he _was_ Seto Kaiba. "You need help."

The hostile air surrounding Atem dissipated at his friend's words. He slumped against the cafeteria table while poking at the meat on his plate instead of stabbing it. A pout formed on his lips. Maybe he did need help.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm fine." Atem muttered; still poking the horribly abused meatloaf.

"Denial is always the first sign." The multicolored haired teen sent the taller boy who spoke another withering glare.

"Since when were you well-versed in psychology?" He asked with evident disdain.

"I don't have to be to notice when _you're_ PMSing." The brunet retorted. The poor meatloaf received the brunt of Atem's irritation at Seto's words when it was yet again stabbed. Seto looked over at his friend with an uneasy stare. It seemed as though Atem was more irritable than usual. It was then that Seto realized he would rather not be stabbed by a spork of doom. "It was joke." He added when Atem gave his food another jab.

"I'm not laughing." The shorter boy muttered darkly. Seto shifted a little ways away in his seat.

"I can see that."

It was then that the sound of laughter could be heard over the sound of the chattering of students in the cafeteria. It got louder as two individuals approached the table in which Atem, Seto and Isis were sitting at. Atem didn't spare them a glance as Marik and Bakura seated themselves across from him. Marik looked over to Atem when he noticed the other boy's sour expression.

"What's wrong with him?" Seto just shrugged by way of a reply. Marik shrugged as well before turning his attention back to his silver haired companion. Isis looked around Marik to get a look at the white haired boy who was with him.

"Who is this?" She asked.

"His name is Bakura. He's a new student." Seto responded as he stared warily at the two who had devilish grins on their faces. Marik and Bakura seemed to be in their own little world. Bakura picked up his spork from his plate, and placed a green pea on it. Then, pulling it back like a mini catapult, he let it go and watched as it flew over the heads of students walking in the open aisle to land in a cup of water belonging to a teacher. Both Bakura and Marik erupted into a fit of giggles.

"I bet you can't do that again." Marik taunted his silver haired companion. Bakura just smirked.

"Watch and learn." The silver haired teen said as he picked up another pea to reload his spork catapult. Atem, Seto and Isis stared at the two in slight horror. It was almost scary how well they went with each other. It was like they were long lost best friends reunited. They watched as the next pea flew across the cafeteria to land in the same teacher's hair this time. The resulting giggles were even more devilish than the first ones.

"Why do I suddenly fear greatly for my life?" Atem asked after a moment. His eyes still on the two in front of him. Seto merely grunted in agreement. Atem then shook his head at their antics, and tried to ignore them as he stared down at his plate looking dejected. Seto averted his stare off of the two troublemakers to look at his best friend again. When all Atem did was swirl around his peas and poke at his meatloaf, the brunet spoke up.

"Seriously, what's up with you?" Atem looked over to his blue-eyed friend. All he did was pout in response to the question. Seto quirked an eyebrow. "This has something to do with Yugi, doesn't it?" Atem's pout intensified, confirming the brunet's suspicion. "Does it have something to do with you having his phone number?" Atem's eyes widened in surprise at Seto's question.

"How did you-"

"Not that hard to figure out with the way you had been staring at your phone that day like it was some gift from a higher power." Seto said impassively. Atem's expression faltered. Had he really looked that happy that day? He probably looked like an obsessed fanboy. It was embarrassing for him to think about. He groaned as he lifted his right hand to massage his temple. This whole infatuation thing was too stressful.

"I..." Atem trailed off. He didn't really know what to say that wouldn't sound even more embarrassing. Seto let out a "hmm..." as if he was thinking about something.

"Let me guess, you two had phone sex that went horribly wrong." Atem froze up as stiff as a statue at Seto's words. His eyes widened in horror and surprise. Seto's eyebrow raised so high up on his forehead that it flirted with his hairline. "You serious?" He asked incredulously. Marik turned his head to pay attention to the conversation the moment he saw the pained look on Atem's face. As soon as he heard the words and saw the reaction, he immediately jumped in.

"You had phone sex?" He snorted out a laugh at Atem's shell-shocked face when the multicolored haired teen realized _Marik_ had heard that part of their conversation. "Wait, with who? That Yugi kid?" He asked with an amused grin. Atem broke out of his daze to glare between Marik and Seto. He tried salvaging as much of his pride as he possibly could as he said,

"I didn't have _phone sex_." Atem heard Seto tsk. He turned to look at the brunet to see the taller boy shaking his head.

"You are so desperate." Seto said in a mocking way. Atem felt his eyebrow involuntarily twitch.

"I didn't have phone sex!" He tried reiterating a little more forcefully. It didn't work, however, as Marik started laughing his head off. Bakura looked intrigued by the humiliation Atem was suffering from, but was confused about what was going on so stayed silent throughout the conversation.

"Was it good phone sex?" Isis spoke up from her quiet observing. Atem turned to his cousin sharply, looking exasperated.

"Isis!" He yelled out. Isis just shrugged. Bakura smirked at hearing the desperation in Atem's voice. It seemed he wanted to be a part of whatever it was that was going on.

"Who is Yugi?" He asked of the tanned boy sitting beside him. Marik turned to him to reply.

"He's that one kid. Uh..." Marik paused as he looked over, and out into the crowd of kids to see if he could spot the person of which he spoke of. His eyes found their target as he then pointed over Bakura's shoulder. "That one over there. With your brother." Bakura turned to follow the direction in which Marik was pointing with his eyes. He found the silver hair of his brother.

"That blond one?" He asked. Marik shook his head.

"No, no. That little one." Bakura looked over to said "little one" and immediately snorted out with laughter. He bit his lip to stifle it.

"The midget?" Marik began to chuckle like a hyena along with his new best friend. Atem looked affronted at the insult to Yugi as he puffed out like a harassed cat.

"He is _not_ a midget!" Atem shouted. When he heard Seto letting out a snicker of his own, he went back to silently simmering while stabbing anything within arms reach with his spork. Bakura turned to face Atem. He just laughed more at seeing the tanned teen's frustration at being ganged up on, and how defensive he was.

"You really got it bad for that shrimp." The silver haired teen concluded with a mischievous grin.

"You have no idea." Seto replied in amusement. Atem shot the boy a glare that promised a slow and painful death. It went unheeded. Bakura turned his head to look at Seto. He grinned widely as he asked,

"My, my, where are my manners?" He started in a sickeningly sweet, mocking way. "You know my name, but I confess I do not know yours. What is your name?" Atem spoke up to answer the question before the brunet could respond.

"His name is, Seto fucking Kaiba." He said in irritation as he willed his glare to set the boy in question on fire. Bakura chuckled darkly at the retort before asking,

"Hello Seto, may I call you fucking?" Seto merely shrugged.

"Go ahead. I'd probably respond to it anyway. Along with many other things. Like asshole, or prick, or Richard. Though that last one is misleading. My name isn't anywhere close to being pronounced Richard."

"I think you'll find it's pretty damn close." Atem muttered. Bakura burst out laughing at the exchange between Atem and Seto.

"I like you." He said pointing to the tallest boy. The brunet just shrugged again.

Atem found his already strained patience waning in the presence of his "friends." Marik and Seto were already bad enough on their own. Bakura being added to their little, dysfunctional circle was like throwing a damn monkey wrench in the already rusted, poorly functioning gears. He stood up abruptly, gaining the attention of the other four at the table.

"Please excuse me while I go find a quiet place to brood while plotting of the multiple ways I'm going to kill you all." Atem muttered as he turned away from the group.

"Well at least you said please." Seto replied mockingly. He hadn't even spared Atem a glance.

"I'm going to kill you first." Atem muttered under his breath. The taller boy just smirked at that. Atem then stalked out of the cafeteria in a huff.

Bakura sat in his seat with a wicked grin on his face as he watched Atem's retreating back. He raised his hand to stroke at his chin as he seemed to be contemplating something. He looked like a standard villain in a B-rated movie. Marik stared over at his new, silver haired friend with a confused expression. Bakura's eyes then moved to glance at the boy sitting beside him.

"We should go... help him out a little." When Marik only looked more confused by the silver haired boy's words, he chuckled. "You know, with his little problem." He said as he gestured towards Yugi sitting far off across the cafeteria with a carefree smile on his innocent face. Marik started to catch on to where Bakura was going with his thoughts. The blond smiled most evilly at his partner in crime.

If one were to think Bakura couldn't possibly look any more devilish than he was now, they would have been proven wrong as he let out a demented cackle.

* * *

Yugi was walking down the hall to head to his homeroom class. Lunch had just ended, and he had left his friends a moment to go use the bathroom. The halls were relatively empty for it being in between classes. Yugi saw the occasional student stopped at their lockers; exchanging their textbooks.

The short boy let out a sigh. School was feeling like it would last forever. All he wanted to do was go home and daydream. About that one guy who just wouldn't leave his thoughts alone. Not since that accidental kiss in the hallway a week or so ago. Yugi smiled as his thoughts drifted to their time in the theater. It had been a little embarrassing at first, but the teen still found the memory pleasant. It had been their first, real conversation that didn't involve derogatory, witty one-liners, or impassive stares. Yugi absently lifted his hand to touch the bridge of his nose. The bruise had almost completely faded.

Yugi smiled. He remembered the time Atem had walked up to him in the hallway to apologize for his mistake. He had seemed so anxious. It had been rather... sweet. Then to the moment he gave Yugi his number. Man had _that_ made him shy. He was just glad he hadn't embarrassed himself by fanboying all over the taller boy.

His thoughts then moved on to the day after that. When he had been sitting with his friends at the pizza parlor. How he had upset them, and as a result had made him upset. Then when Atem cheered him up with that phone call of his. Oh man, that phone call.

Before he could think any more on the subject, he was interrupted when someone ran up to him. Yugi looked up to see Atem's friend, Marik, smiling at him. He was standing right in front of Yugi, blocking his path. The shorter boy gave Marik a confused look.

"Can I help you?" He asked when the blond had yet to move. Marik responded by nodding, followed by,

"I want to show you something." Yugi was more confused now, but this was Atem's friend. Yugi then smiled.

"Okay." He said cheerfully as he followed Marik down the hall.

* * *

Atem was seated in his homeroom class licking his wounds. He hadn't even seen Yugi barely at all since their history class. He couldn't believe he was being such a nervous wreck about this. How hard could it be to talk to Yugi about the conversation they had had over the phone? Very hard, apparently. He could have walked over to the smaller boy when he was in the cafeteria instead of allowing himself to be harassed by those three cretins. Though, unfortunately, he hadn't been able to summon up the nerve. Not after remembering the taunts he had received from Seto, Marik and Bakura. Those fools had even gotten Isis to join in on further humiliating him. _Isis_. The most serious person Atem had ever met besides his father.

Atem shook his head clear of those thoughts. He was giving them too much of his attention than they rightfully deserved. Especially when his efforts could be better spent on thinking of a certain, innocent-faced individual. He knew he had to think of some way of approaching his crush. He couldn't call him. His father still had his phone. Trying to write him notes clearly wasn't a good way to go about it. Actually walking up to him seemed to be too much of an ordeal for Atem's poor, little, fluttery heart. What else could he do?

Atem had been so wrapped up in his musings that he did not notice as two individuals walked up to him. The crimson eyed boy was only alerted to their presence when their forms cast shadows over his own seated form. He felt his previous irritation from before coming back to him as he slowly looked up into the faces of Marik and Bakura. He could feel a vein throbbing in his temple. The two of them were trying their best to look innocent. It was succeeding about as much as a shark would have trying to pass itself off as a goldfish.

"Dare I ask what more the two of you could possibly want from me now?" Atem asked in the most patient tone he could muster. The two standing before him grinned in, what Atem could only assume was supposed to be, amicable delight.

"We want to show you something." Bakura spoke up. His feigned, positive, facial expression not wavering. Marik nodded vigorously next to him to emphasize their eagerness. Atem slowly stared between the two wolves in sheep's clothing. The both of them faltered slightly underneath his hard gaze. After a moment, Atem replied with,

"Please stop smiling like that. I think you've caused enough angels to weep today, don't you think?" Marik and Bakura let out a series of nervous chuckles.

"We really do want to show you something, though." Marik piped up. Atem rolled his eyes at the display in front of him.

"Fine. What is it that you both want to show me?" Once getting his approval, Bakura then rushed over to the tanned boy to grab him by the upper arm.

"It's this way. You should really come quick." The silver haired teen said with feigned urgency. Atem allowed himself to be pulled up. He sent them both a suspicious glare through narrowed eyes as they lead him out of the classroom he was in, and down the hall.

"Over here." Marik said as he lead the way from this point. They rounded a corner, and went down another hallway. Atem began to feel more uncomfortable the longer he allowed this to continue. He began to slightly resist the tug on his arm, but the grip did not loosen. "Almost there." He heard Marik say. They walked a little bit farther before abruptly stopping in front of a door. Atem stared at it warily. He looked up to see words written across its surface.

"It's a janitor's closet." Atem stated. Why in the world did they drag him around half the school to show him a freaking janitor's closet?

"Yes, yes it is." Bakura said with a dark, mischievous tone that Atem was beginning to associate with the silver haired boy. Bakura then stood behind Atem as Marik opened the door. Before the multicolored haired boy could react, he was quickly shoved inside as the door closed fast behind him.

Atem stumbled forward ungracefully while sputtering out incoherent syllables. He stood up straight and turned around to face the closed door. He reached out a hand to grasp at its handle to open it, but the door wouldn't budge.

" _Marik_. Let me out of here." He demanded in an authoritative way. The only thing he heard in response was the sound of the shuffling of feet moving farther away. Atem tried jostling the door a little more to no avail. He growled in frustration at his own foolishness for letting those two fools coerce him into following them. That Bakura kid seemed like a horrible influence on the already mischievous Marik. Atem was about to just kick the damn door down, but was stopped cold when a familiar voice called out uncertainly with,

"Atem?" Atem's eyes widened in shock as the realization of who that voice belonged to caught up to him. He spun around quickly, and planted his back up against the door.

"Y-Yugi?" Atem stuttered out in mild panic. He watched as the familiar form walked carefully forward around some brooms to get closer to him. It was kind of dark in the janitor's closet. It kept Atem from being able to see Yugi clearly. "How did you end up in here?" He asked after a moment.

"Your friend, Marik I think his name is, said he wanted to show me something. So, I followed him." Yugi said sheepishly.

"Of course he did." Atem muttered to himself. The nerve of them butting into business neither of them belonged in. He was really getting tired of people doing that. As soon as he got out of this little closet, he was going to slap that new kid upside his silver haired head. He would just give Marik a good kick in the ass.

"Is the door locked?" Yugi asked shyly, interrupting the taller boy's thoughts. Atem felt himself blush at the reminder of who was stuck in the little (emphasis on little) closet with him. Yugi was right there. If Atem wanted to, he could reach out and touch the other because of how close they were; being cramped inside the small space.

"Uh, yeah, I think so. It won't open." Atem said feeling like a caged animal. His back couldn't get any closer to the door.

"Oh." Yugi replied. The two of them stood there for a long, awkward moment.

Yugi found himself nervous being locked inside a janitor's closet with the one person who could make his heart race. How gullible was he to be fooled into getting shoved into it? In his defense, he knew Marik was one of Atem's close friends, and trusted him simply because of that fact. He thought the platinum blond might have been wanting to show him something pertaining to Atem. Though, he supposed he couldn't complain much. Nothing beats information on Atem like having the real thing right in front of him. Therein lies the problem, however, he didn't know what to say to him.

Yugi's mind decided to tease him with replays of their last conversation. The one that had been their first conversation over the phone. It had felt so easy to talk to Atem then. Once the two of them had gotten into a discussion, the rest just went from there. Yugi had been thinking of Atem a lot since that day. And not just that brief moment in the hallway. That call made him wonder. If, perhaps, the two of them could be something more. If it was possible. Atem had to be interested. At least, to some degree.

His thoughts then traveled to a very sexy, half-naked Atem with a playful smirk on his face.

"Yugi?" Atem's deep voice broke him out of his trance. Yugi sighed. Now that he was so close to the source of his fantasies, his thoughts were running wild without his consent. He then blushed fiercely when he realized that he had just been thinking of less than clean thoughts about Atem when the taller boy was standing right in front of him.

"Y-yes?" Yugi stuttered out. Even though it was dark in the little room, Yugi could tell Atem looked troubled. It seemed as though the taller boy wanted to say something.

"Are you... still grounded?" Atem asked awkwardly. He inwardly cursed at himself. That wasn't what he wanted to say.

Yugi shook his head before saying, "No, not really. My grandpa just kind of forgot about it after I told him what really happened."

"Oh, that's good." Atem replied, lost in thought. This was the perfect time to talk to Yugi about their previous phone conversation. The perfect time to tell the shorter boy that they should talk more. This wasn't exactly the way he had planned to approach Yugi, but he could work with this. "So, about that phone se-" Atem quickly shut his mouth. Yugi tilted his head cutely.

"Phone seh?" The shorter boy asked in confusion. Atem bit his lip in embarrassment. Those fools had been calling it phone sex so much it was tainting his mind. Not because he had also labeled it phone sex. Nope, it was definitely their fault.

"Phone seeh-i-tuation. Phone situation. Because... we were kind of interrupted before. When we, uh, started talking about something a little more than just video games."

 _Saved it so hard._

Yugi's face blew up in a dark blush. He should have expected Atem to want to talk about that moment. The moment when the both of them had derailed off of the topic of games into something a little more heated. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time. An, "in the moment," experience. Not that he regretted it; absolutely not. It was just that that moment was the main reason he hadn't walked up to Atem sooner to ask the older boy what he thought of him. Because every time he even thought back on it, he couldn't stop the overwhelming feeling of shyness. Also of arousal, but mostly shyness. ...okay, maybe equal amounts of both.

"Oh, uh... yeah. About that..." Yugi trailed off.

Atem took a breath in. This was it. He was going to just let it all out. No more holding back, or skirting around the problem. Yugi was right in front of him.

 _Just say it. Like you did in the note!_

"I just wanted to say, it was nice. To have the chance to get to know you better. Perhaps we could..." Atem started. He raised his right hand to rub absently at the back of his neck. He looked to Yugi, and noticed the boy was staring at him rather intently. "Perhaps we could play a game sometime." He finished. Yugi looked adorable as he looked away from Atem, and placed his hands behind his back.

"I'd like that." Yugi said quietly, but loud enough for Atem to hear.

"Really? I mean, good!" Atem exclaimed. He couldn't keep himself from feeling overly pleased. This was going a lot better than he honestly thought it would. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but this was quite the pleasant surprise. Nothing off-the-wall had even happened to disrupt the moment. Perhaps after he got out of this closet, he'd actually _thank_ Marik and Bakura for forcing him in here.

It was then that the both of them could hear the shuffling of feet making their way to the door to the closet they were in. Yugi's blush intensified when he realized they could get caught seen together in the tiny space. People would probably get the wrong idea. With that thought in mind, Yugi made a move to back away from Atem. Unfortunately, all he ended up doing was tripping over the broom he had stepped around before. The shorter boy then began to fall backwards with nothing to grab on to.

Atem noticed Yugi falling backwards, and reflexively reached out to grab him by his flailing arms. He pulled the smaller boy forward. Yugi ended up landing right on Atem's chest. His chin falling perfectly on Atem's shoulder.

Yugi froze up immediately at realizing what just happened. He dared not move as his hands had managed to find their way to Atem's chest to grab a fist full of the taller boy's white undershirt. His hand was right over the older boy's heart.

Atem had wrapped his arms around Yugi. One hand wrapped around his shoulders, the other hand on the small of the shorter teen's back. If anyone had asked Atem why his hands were there, he would have told them it was because he didn't want Yugi to fall. If he was being honest with himself, however, he knew the answer wouldn't have been so innocent and considerate. He only hoped Yugi couldn't feel his steadily increasing heart rate.

The both of them were leaned up against the door. The footsteps just outside completely forgotten due to their, more or less, compromising position. When the door suddenly opened, it had Atem and Yugi falling backwards most ungracefully.

Atem's back hit the ground hard. It almost knocked the air out of him due to how sudden it was and the extra weight of Yugi. His eyes scrunched up in pain. He groaned out at the ache he now felt in his back. He hadn't been paying much attention to anything else, or where his hands had shifted during the fall. Atem opened his eyes, and blinked a couple of times. Wait, what was it that he felt? He squeezed the area a couple of times feeling confused. The resulting yelp he heard had him looking towards Yugi who was still on top of him.

Feeling his rear end getting groped had Yugi bolting upright. He reflexively lashed out at the offender, which happened to be the unwitting Atem; slapping the boy across the face quite hard. Atem's head was forced to the side with the force of the blow to his face. It had him letting out a pained yelp of his own.

Yugi instantly recoiled his hand. "I-I'm so sorry!" He exclaimed when he realized he had just bitch-slapped his crush across the face. Feeling horribly embarrassed and ashamed, Yugi hurriedly scrambled off of Atem, and quickly made his way down the hall as fast as his short legs could carry him.

Meanwhile, Marik and Bakura had been standing there watching the scene unfold in amusement. They had been the ones to open the door on Atem and Yugi. They figured they had let the two lovebirds stew long enough in the little, janitor's closet. When Yugi had slapped Atem in the face, it had the two laughing like mad hyenas.

Atem let out another groan, and raised his hand to his jaw to feel if it might have possibly been dislocated. That had hurt like a bitch. This must be what karma felt like. The multicolored haired teen sat up slowly, and glanced down the hallway. Yugi was no where in sight. The slow realization of what he just did caught up with him. Atem groaned again, but not in pain, in humiliation. For fuck's sake. Now Yugi was going to think he was a pervert. Just when he had started thinking nothing was going to go wrong. So much for that.

It was then that Atem finally noticed the evil cackling coming from the other side of him. The embarrassment he felt began to fade into anger. Slowly, he turned his head to stare up at Marik and Bakura, who were still laughing like nothing in the world was quite as funny as Atem's misfortune. Atem growled, then stood up from the floor. He leveled the two with the most murderous glare he could muster. The intensity of said glare was enough to give pause to the laughter.

" _You two._ " Atem said dangerously low. He stalked up to them with his fists clenched by his sides. Marik and Bakura actually took an involuntary step back when the tanned boy got close. Atem turned his heated glare on Marik. "Can you _possibly_ _stop_ being _you_ for _five minutes_ of your _insufferable_ _ **life**_?" It wasn't yelled, but it might as well have been. Any words Marik might have said died in his throat as he took another step back looking taken aback by the rage laced within Atem's voice. The glare was then redirected to Bakura. The silver haired teen froze up a bit, but he stood his ground. " _And you._ I don't even _know_ you, and you're _already_ on my shit list. You haven't even been here a _day,_ and I already know you're _worse_ than he is." Atem said as he gestured towards Marik. When neither of the two boys responded to his rage, Atem growled out in frustration, and then turned away from them. He stalked off looking royally pissed. A red hand print tattooed on the side of his tanned face.

Marik and Bakura just stood there for a moment, watching Atem walk off. People scurrying away from him when they made the unfortunate mistake of getting too close. Bakura was the first to recover as he let out a snide huff.

"What a dick." The silver haired boy stated. He crossed his arms over his chest looking rather indignant. Marik only nodded in agreement beside him. Bakura turned to Marik with a peeved expression. "Why do you hang out with that guy?" His voice held within a snappish edge. Marik turned to look at him. He merely shrugged by way of a reply before saying,

"Honestly, the only reason I do is because of my father." Bakura stared at his friend in confusion. The tanned boy's expression then contorted into a look of resentment as he turned his eyes to look down the hallway. "I swear, my father cares more about _him_ than he does about _me._ " Bakura quirked an eyebrow at the statement.

"Why?" Marik looked back over to Bakura.

"It's because my father wants to be business partners with Atem's father. He does _everything_ for that guy. My family owns a small, family run business. If my father could become partners with Atem's dad, our little business would get more recognition and more financial support than it ever could on its own. At least, that's what my father likes to say." Marik explained. His words held a restrained rage within. Bakura continued to look at him quizzically.

"Why Atem's father specifically?" Marik seemed more annoyed as he spoke up to explain.

"Because Atem's father loaned us some money one time. My father used it to build up the business and get our name out their in more places. We got more business than ever before because of that. Because of the money and the fact that it was Aknamkanon to loan it. He's a pretty big name around here. Now he's all my father can talk about. He worships that guy. He asked me to kiss up to Atem so he could get on Aknamkanon's good side. It's stupid."

Bakura continued to stare at his friend in contemplation. His eyes narrowed as he turned his gaze down the hallway that Atem had disappeared down. He then had a most evil thought. Bakura's lips twitched up into a most malicious smirk as he began to plot.

* * *

 _Author's note:_

 _Whew, long chapter. I hadn't even realized I was taking so long to write this one until I actually started paying attention to what day it was. Heh heh. Then I was all like, whoa. Has it really been over a week?_

 _Anywho, I hope you guys like Ryou and Bakura! Yes, I know. No tendershipping. But hey! Next best thing, thiefshipping! Yeh? Yeh?!_

 _Do you smell the drama cooking? Well you should! It smells all drama-y. Or something._

 _I can't believe I've written five chapters. Like, oh mah gawd. So excite._

 _Ahem, anyway, please review! It fuels me, and makes me happy. Mostly 'cause I spend way too much time editing my stories to make sure I don't have any mistakes in them. Reviews let me know I'm doing something right (or wrong). Hope you enjoyed this chapter!_


	6. A bad day?

_No real life Atems were harmed during the making of this chapter._

* * *

Yugi's back was thrown up against the school's lockers with some force. One of the locks jabbed a little painfully into him, but he didn't care. A mouth followed him and forcefully pressed into his. A tongue flicked hungrily at his lips with an unspoken plea for entrance.

Atem's breath was hot against his skin. It made Yugi's lips redden and his cheeks flushed. He opened his mouth, a gasp attempted to escape, but was instantly quelled by a tongue that plunged in. The gasping sound morphed into a low moan. He reached his hands out to grasp at the clothes of the one in front of him to pull him closer. He wanted to feel the heat. So much more heat. Atem seemed all too happy to oblige. The taller boy pressed himself against Yugi as he broke their heated kiss. Yugi almost whined out in annoyance, but didn't have it in him to complain once he felt Atem's body all over his; when the taller boy's lips touched the tender skin of his neck.

Yugi let out an airy moan. He lifted his hands to wrap them around the tan Adonis' neck to move his hands up into his hair – fingers interlaced within the dark strands. He heard as well as felt Atem let out a deep, rich groan, or perhaps a growl, when his nails gently scraped the other's scalp.

Atem moved away from him to look him in the face. Red eyes smoldered with a dangerous gleam of desire that had him shuddering with anticipation as well as maybe a bit of fear.

"Yugi..." He hardly even registered the spoken word as being his name. That voice tantalized him with its beautiful melody that made it almost impossible to think.

"...hm?" It was the only response he could manage.

Atem moved closer, right next to his ear. He could feel the boy's breath against his skin. There was a moment's hesitation where nothing was said between them. He swallowed the lump that had welled up in his throat.

"You should..." Yugi heard Atem whisper huskily. The anticipation was making him feel anxious. He almost jumped when the taller boy continued with, "...wake up."

 _Wait, what?_

Atem moved away from Yugi to place his hands on the smaller boy's shoulders to shake him. "Yugi Muto, what do you think you're doing? Wake up."

"Wha?"

"I said, wake up!"

* * *

Yugi's eyes opened blearily. He blinked several times and looked around at his surroundings. His eyes first landed on Joey who had been snickering to his left. Yugi stared at him in confusion for a moment before he heard a cough in front of him. His eyes trailed upward into the face of his history teacher who looked quite displeased.

"Sleeping in class? I expected more of you, Yugi." He heard his teacher speak. He then realized where he was exactly. A blush began to light up his cheeks.

"I'm sorry, sir."

"See me after class." Was the response he received as his history teacher turned around to walk back to the front of the classroom. Yugi heard Joey let out an "Oooooo," beside him. Yugi shrank in his seat and sent his friend a glare.

It was then that Yugi realized that whatever it was that he had been dreaming about must have been really nice, because he had quite the erection. He awkwardly placed his hand over the area trying his hardest to be discreet about it.

" _Atem_ , wake up!" The teacher yelled loud enough to make him jump. Yugi turned his head around to stare over his shoulder. Atem lifted his head up off his desk to reveal a red mark across his forehead. Through half-lidded eyes, he glared at the teacher before propping his head in his hand. "You see me after class as well." Atem just grumbled at the demand.

"It was just getting good." Atem mumbled almost incoherently before his eyes started to close again.

* * *

Yugi lagged behind when the bell rang that signaled for the end of the class. He couldn't believe he fell asleep. Now he had to worry about what his teacher had to say about it. Not to mention it took the rest of the class period for him to think of things bad enough to get himself to calm down from the effects of that dream.

"See ya at the table, Yug'." He heard Joey say as well as felt a pat to his shoulder. He sighed at that.

"Yeah..."

Joey smiled at the smaller boy's dejected face. "Hey, don't worry. This is the first time you've done anything. He'll probably just give ya a warning and send ya on your way." Yugi merely shrugged. It wasn't the teacher's potential scolding he was feeling bummed about.

 _I'm just sad I don't remember what I was dreaming about that made me feel that dang good._

Joey then began to snicker. Did he say that out loud?

"I mean uh... Yeah. I'd hate to get a detention or something." Because that was what was awful about this situation – definitely.

Joey's snickers turned into hearty laughs. "Man, you are such a closet pervert." Yugi flushed a little at the comment. Joey noticed how awkward Yugi was looking and decided to cut him some slack. "Have fun gettin' your head bitten off. See ya when you get out." The blond haired boy then walked out of the classroom.

Yugi groaned in his seat and slumped against his desk. Now he had to sit there and wait for his history teacher to come back and yell at him. His mind wandered to thoughts on what he had been dreaming about. It had obviously been sexual. The erection said that much. So, who exactly had it been it about?

He felt his skin warm a bit at that thought. It was probably Atem, but for the life of him he couldn't remember what had happened in the dream. What a shame.

A noise of a chair being dragged along the floor broke Yugi out of his thoughts. He looked over his shoulder to see the tan-skinned sex God himself stretching while exposing the skin of his well-toned stomach. That's right, Atem had fallen asleep in class too.

His mind then went back to yesterday; of the incident in the janitor's closet. He felt his cheeks heat up even more. Then his thoughts went to him falling on top of Atem, and the taller boy squeezing something of his. That had been interesting. Then the slap. Oh, right, he hadn't even properly apologized for doing that. He had just blurted out a sorry and ran off.

Yugi watched as Atem sauntered up to the front of the class. He stopped a few steps away as he looked over at Yugi, and then to a seat farther away. He stood there awkwardly for a moment before he sat a little ways away from the shorter boy. Yugi let out a disappointed sigh as Atem folded his arms on top of the desk and plopped his head down on top of them. All Yugi wanted to do was walk over to the other boy, straddle him, grab his face and yell, "Just kiss me already, damn it!"

That was probably not the most appropriate thing to do. Probably wouldn't be very original either. Who _didn't_ want to do that to Atem?

There was the sound of feet shuffling outside of the door as their history teacher walked back into the room. He walked in front of the two students with a look of annoyance.

"Atem, wake up." The irritated teacher said without even sparing the boy a glance. Yugi heard Atem groan, but he lifted his head up anyway. Yugi shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat when his teacher turned his glare on him first. "Care to explain to me why the both of you fell asleep during my class?"

Yugi's eyes looked around the room to then stare down at his hands in his lap. He wasn't used to getting into trouble. He didn't like it very much.

"I'm sorry, sir." He said quietly without making eye contact. The history teacher glared over at Atem.

"Atem?"

The tan-skinned boy just yawned. "Yeah, yeah. What he said." Atem pointed lazily in Yugi's direction. Their teacher wasn't pleased by the response.

"Since the both of you care so little for my rules, there will be punishment for this behavior." Yugi's eyes widened a degree at their instructor's words. Punishment? He never got punished. He never did anything to _get_ punished.

Yugi glanced over at Atem to see the boy looking back at him with a sympathetic expression. He mouthed a "sorry" in his direction.

" _Ahem_." They both looked up at their peeved history teacher. "You will both have detention after school. You are dismissed." Yugi's mouth fell open in shock. He had only been joking before.

 _Detention?! I've never gotten a detention!_

"B-but... I..."

" _Dismissed._ "

Yugi shut his mouth quickly. He looked back down at his hands timidly. His grandfather was going to be furious with him. All because he didn't get enough sleep last night due to the fact that he couldn't get the person to his left out of his mind long enough to fall asleep.

"Detention? You can at least not give Yugi a detention. It's his first mistake." Yugi looked over when he heard Atem's voice. The older boy looked even more irritated than their teacher. He felt his unease kind of fade away into a fluttery feeling at those words. Atem was defending him – against a _teacher_.

"That is not for you to decide, now is it?" Their teacher said before he stalked out of the classroom. Yugi heard Atem grumble disdainfully.

" _Prick_." Yugi couldn't agree more. Now he was faced with having to tell his grandfather he got a detention. The sound of Atem standing up from his chair had Yugi looking over to his left. He then realized something. They were the only two in the classroom now. He began to feel nervous as he shifted awkwardly in his seat. Should he stand up and just leave? That would probably send the wrong message. He didn't want to seem like he was avoiding Atem.

Footsteps made their way to him. Yugi kept his stare down at his lap as the anxiety began to build up within him. It almost felt involuntarily. He idly wondered if that was some kind of reflex to the dream he had.

"Hey... Yugi?" Yugi felt his body stiffen as he looked slowly up to Atem. He found himself surprised, however, when he saw the other boy's face. The tan skin of his cheeks were tinted pink. "I'm uh... sorry about that. It was probably my fault we got a detention. That guy is out to get me."

Yugi blinked a few times before he shook his head vigorously. "Oh, no! It's not your fault. I shouldn't have fallen asleep." Atem smirked.

"Can't blame you. He should take it as a sign. Considering even the best is falling asleep in his class." Yugi couldn't help but blush at that.

 _Atem just called me the best._

The past couple of weeks had really been quite the emotional roller coaster ride of embarrassment for Yugi. Ever since that accidental kiss in the hallway. He couldn't even keep his hormones in check anymore.

"Um, Yugi?" Yugi looked back up to Atem.

Atem felt the beginnings of embarrassment hit him again as he thought of what he wanted to say to the boy who sat in front of him. There was so much he wanted to say. The first thing he should probably do is apologize for groping him the day before. That would be a good start. Especially since he was probably the biggest reason they both just got a detention.

"I just um... wanted to say..." Atem trailed off as his hand instinctively raised to scratch at his multicolored hair. His thoughts trailed off with him as he couldn't keep them from drifting off to the dream he had had in class.

Before he had been so rudely interrupted by that insufferable history teacher, Atem had been having quite the steamy dream that involved the boy in front of him now. About throwing the smaller boy up against the lockers and having his way with him.

"Atem?" Yugi's voice snapped him back to the present. The blush on his cheeks intensified. Trust him to be _that_ guy who thought of perverted things about the person right in front him when the thing he wanted to do was prove he _wasn't_ perverted.

"I... uh..." Atem swallowed nervously.

 _Hey, uh, knock knock? Confidence? This isn't a joke. Where are you?_

He looked down into Yugi's wide, beautiful, exotic, purple eyes. The shorter boy stared at him shyly.

 _Damn it._

"I uh, I should go." Atem said quietly. His eyes wandered off of Yugi's brilliant ones. Before Yugi could say anything to him, he hurriedly walked out of the classroom.

* * *

Atem walked down the hallway feeling quite lame. It just figured he would think of something that would embarrass him to the point he couldn't even say the most simplest of things. It had to be Yugi's fault. If the boy wasn't so cute it wouldn't be so difficult to talk to him. Yes, it was definitely Yugi's fault.

Atem then stopped walking abruptly.

 _No, no way. This is_ not _going to be a repeat of yesterday. You're going to turn around and talk to him. Suck up your pride and start blaming yourself for once._

Atem put on his game face and turned around. Just as soon as he did, he noticed Yugi walking down the hall in the opposite direction of where he had been going. He took a deep breath.

 _If you don't start walking his way, then your paths will never cross. Is that what you want?_

He then exhaled and took his first step forward instead the many backwards steps he had been taking whenever it came to the violet-eyed teen. This time would be different. He _wanted_ to tell Yugi how he felt. No more would he try and avoid the problem, or have it be forced upon him to confront it. He would walk up to Yugi willingly, and actually have a full conversation with him. On his own terms – no interruptions.

 _Wasn't it about time you started acting like yourself?_

Yes, yes it was.

More determined than ever, Atem straightened his shoulders and moved forward.

Just as soon as he did, however, he tripped over a foot and landed in an unceremonious heap on the floor.

* * *

Bakura walked briskly down the hallway to the cafeteria. Marik by his side. He glared ahead of himself feeling annoyed. All day he had been trying to think of ways to get back at Atem for yesterday. He had an idea, but he just wasn't sure how to go through with it. He knew Yugi would be an excellent start, but what could he do to Atem that involved Yugi? He could try and embarrass him in front of the midget, but how? He didn't want Atem knowing it was him. At least, not at first. He couldn't just walk up to the other boy and shank him.

Although, he had to admit, that would be hilarious.

Marik made a valiant effort to keep up with his brisk pace, but Bakura hardly noticed.

 _Ideas mind, ideas. Stop being so useless._

He hadn't even been paying attention as someone brushed past him, and tripped over his foot. It had hurt like a bitch. Bakura hopped on one foot as he grabbed his other.

" _Fuck!_ Watch where you're going you _fool_." He snapped.

"Um, Bakura?"

Bakura spun around towards Marik who had spoken up next to him.

" _What?_ " Marik ignored his snappish reply and pointed down at the person he had tripped. Bakura glared down at the person stupid enough to walk over his foot. His eyes then widened. " _Atem?_ " He then looked up and saw a familiar midget rounding the corner. He looked back down to Atem with a calculating expression. It then turned wicked.

Atem must have been going to talk to Yugi. Instead of trying to embarrass him, he could always just foil his plans. Kind of like what he did yesterday.

"Let's go Marik." He said in a conniving way as he turned around to continue onward. Marik stared at him looking unsure.

"Shouldn't we help him up?"

Bakura merely laughed. "Why? Come on, lets go." He then started to walk away; an evil chuckle began to erupt from within him. Marik took another glance down at Atem before he hurried to follow Bakura.

Bakura's smile widened in devilish delight as he thought of ways he could hinder Atem's progress to get closer to Yugi.

 _This will be too easy._

* * *

Atem groaned. That trip to the ground had been unexpected. He hadn't even had any time to break his fall, and he had hit the ground awfully hard. He pushed himself up slowly. His knees had taken the brunt of the fall. They ached when he stood up. He tried taking a step forward. The following pain had him limping.

"Damn it." He muttered darkly.

Atem looked back up to search for the one he had been wanting to talk to before being tripped. Yugi was no where to be seen. He sighed.

Nothing could ever be that easy.

He then began to limp off in Yugi's direction. Perhaps he could still catch up to him. The shorter boy was probably headed to his locker. A few more limps, and he was around the corner.

 _Almost there._

Just as he expected, Yugi was at his locker exchanging his textbooks. Atem couldn't stop himself from smiling even if he wanted to. It was the perfect moment to catch the boy alone before he went to the cafeteria to be surrounded by his friends.

He hadn't even seen a particular silver-haired boy watching him from the shadows with an evil glint in his eyes.

Atem had to squeeze himself against the lockers to avoid running into anyone, because for some reason everyone wanted to converse within the center of the hall. He didn't understand why people always chose the very middle to stand idle and talk about stuff that meant nothing. It was a very confusing aspect of high school life that he never could fully grasp.

He had glared over to his right at a guy who pushed him. It was already enough of a pain to walk forward with a limp, and someone had to go and push him. He had been so caught up in pushing the punk right back that he hadn't noticed someone had walked up in front of him.

Just as he turned back to look ahead of himself, a locker door swung open and hit him right in the face. Atem fell back against the floor again. His hands immediately rose to grab hold of his nose. He groaned in pain. That was definitely going to bruise. To add insult to injury, a pile of books fell on his already abused shins.

Yugi hadn't even noticed anything as he walked around the crowd of chattering students to head to the cafeteria.

Bakura let out an evil chuckle as he quietly sneaked away from the scene.

* * *

Atem was annoyed. Positively, horribly, _completely_ annoyed. He had a nasty red mark over his nose that hurt if he so much as lightly grazed it, and he just knew his knees were bruised. He had completely missed his chance in the hallway to talk to Yugi after some fool tripped him, then got practically beaten up by a _locker,_ and now...

Now, he was seated in the cafeteria at a table away from everyone because _no one_ would leave him alone for _five freaking seconds._

All he wanted to do was go up to Yugi and talk to him. He didn't care if his friends were there. Every time he tried, though, someone would interrupt him. He couldn't understand it. The girls in Domino High were always too scared to walk up to him before. Now, all of a sudden, they were all fearless or something. It just didn't make any sense.

Every time they walked up to him, it would be at a time when he tried to walk over to Yugi's table. They would then proceed to say something like, "The white haired guy said you wanted to talk to me." Or something equally as strange. Then proceed to give him their best impression of a ripe tomato.

Who the hell was this, "white haired guy?"

He hadn't wanted to be impolite. He always treated people with respect, because that was just how he was raised.

Well, except his history teacher, but that guy just asked for it.

At this point, however, he thought he sufficiently scared off most of the girls who kept coming up to him. He decided it was a good time to try again.

As he got up from his secluded table, he began to make his way over to Yugi's. He was thankful when no one went up to him. He sighed in relief.

It seemed to be a bit too soon to celebrate, however, when he slipped in a small puddle of cafeteria milk.

 _Not again..._

Atem threw his arms out to try and grab at anything to stop his fall. Thankfully, his hands landed on something solid. He grabbed at it desperately; his hands took hold of a fistful of fabric. He still fell to the floor, but instead of the straight fall he had been expecting, he simply slid slowly down to it. He hadn't even realized he had scrunched his eyes shut in an attempt to brace himself for the oncoming pain.

Atem would have kept his eyes closed longer and just relished the feeling of not having more pain brought upon him, but a chorus of laughter left him confused. Slowly, he opened his eyes, blinked a few times and then looked around. Everyone in the cafeteria was laughing. Atem then realized what it was he had in his hands – pants. He then took a glance upward; quite a long distance up to stare in the face of one of the most feared bullies in the entire school, Tetsu Ushio. The overly buff teen just stood there, pantsless.

It didn't take long for Atem to understand the full extent of what just happened.

 _Shit._

Atem jumped up and stood there sheepishly. "Um, heh."

Ushio didn't respond. He just had a blank stare on his face as he raised his hands to crack his knuckles. Atem paled.

"Now, no need to get violent. It was an accident." Ushio took a step forward. The action caused Atem to take several steps back. "H-hey! Let's be civil. I'm sure we coul-"

* * *

Bakura had been the one to spill the milk all over the floor. He knew Atem would try to approach Yugi again. However, when Atem tripped and grabbed onto that really buff kid, that had been purely coincidental. Also thoroughly hilarious.

He winced when a fist collided with Atem's face.

* * *

Atem couldn't _believe_ he was still able to stand. He had spent the rest of the school period in the nurse's office. His right eye was swollen, and had also turned a nasty bluish color. He also had a massive headache. Not to mention his nose was swollen as well.

He trudged through the halls to get back to his history class. After today, he _still_ had to sit through that detention. His father would probably accuse him of getting into another fight as soon as he got home. He wanted to delay that inevitable conversation as long as he could, so, maybe the detention wasn't all that bad.

Atem thought about why he was even in this much pain. It felt like the universe was out to get him today. All he had wanted to do was talk to Yugi. Maybe this was a sign that he should just give up while he was ahead. If he could even call his current state "being ahead." This had to be the worst day.

Eventually, he made it to the classroom and walked inside. He ignored everyone else as he kept his stare trained on the floor. He walked through the isle and plopped down harshly in his seat in the back of the room.

* * *

Yugi was seated in his history class awaiting judgment from his instructor with Joey and Tristan. The two had been acting as if it was the most hilarious thing that Yugi, the innocent, little angel that he was, had gotten a detention. He pouted indignantly when all they seemed to want to do was laugh.

"I can't believe he's giving you a detention. _You._ " Joey said between giggles. Tristan was right there with him with.

"Seriously, is the sky falling or something?" Tristan asked sarcastically. He laughed when Yugi tried his best to glare at him for the snide remark. Yugi was sure the look he achieved was probably something close to a pissed off koala bear. At least, if the close to bursting faces of his friends were anything to judge by.

"Thanks for the support guys. I can feel it." Yugi muttered as he let his head fall on his desk.

It was then that their teacher walked into the classroom. The man glared at Joey and Tristan before he turned his attention to Yugi. Yugi looked up when he heard the sound of dress shoes hitting the floor in front of him. He looked up at his history teacher and gulped.

Their teacher had to be one of the most scary individuals Yugi had ever met. He had always been so serious. He couldn't even remember a time when the man actually smiled. Even Joey and Tristan looked around the room a little nervously while they tried to avoid any kind of eye contact.

"Yugi, for your detention, you'll be cleaning off the cafeteria tables." Yugi nodded. He watched as his teacher turned his glare on his two friends. "No distractions." He added before he turned around to head to the door. He stopped a moment to turn back around. "And tell Atem that he is to clean this room. _Thoroughly._ _Of all little, paper balls and everything that might have been thrown._ " Yugi gave his teacher a more vigorous nod at the severity in his tone. He nearly even saluted.

"Y-yes sir!"

"Good." It was the last thing the imposing man said before he stalked out of the classroom.

Once he was gone for sure, Joey spoke up. "Jeez, he is such a dick."

Tristan nodded in agreement beside him. "Yeah." They both turned to look down at Yugi when the shortest boy groaned. Joey walked over to him to give him a pat on the shoulder.

"Hey man, at least you only gotta clean off the tables. It won't take you that long."

Yugi looked up at Joey with a bummed expression. "I guess, but I still have to tell my grandfather I got a detention." Joey grinned.

"You don't gotta say what he doesn't bring up! And hey, we can head over to the arcade after you're done. Then you can say you were hangin' out with us." Yugi stared at his friend for a moment as he considered this option. Joey's grin widened. "Won't be a lie!"

Yugi relented and smiled up at his best friend. "Thanks Joey."

Joey lifted his hand to ruffle the smaller boy's hair. "No problem."

It was then that someone else walked through the opened door. Only Tristan noticed since Yugi and Joey had still been talking. The figure walked towards the back of the classroom and practically slumped into a chair. Tristan eyed him a moment. He recognized him, but something was seriously wrong with his face.

"Damn."

Yugi and Joey looked over at Tristan when they had heard him speak. Yugi stared at Tristan and noticed him looking somewhere off in the classroom. He followed the boy's gaze until his eyes landed on a familiar individual. The only thing, however, was that the person looked absolutely horrible. Bruises, swelling and red welts marred the usually pretty face of none other than Atem.

"Oh my gosh! Atem?!" Yugi exclaimed as he immediately jumped out of his chair to rush over to his bruised crush.

"Holy shit. What the hell happened to him?" Joey asked after he got a good look at Atem's face.

Tristan shook his head. "I don't know, but it looks bad."

Joey let out a snort. "Please, stubbing your toe in the morning after getting woken up by your alarm clock at 5:30 AM on a Monday is bad. That? He _looks_ like Miley Cyrus after kissin' one too many wrecking balls. _That's_ how that looks."

Tristan turned his head to quirk an eyebrow at Joey. The blond just continued to stare at Atem's face in something close to amused sympathy.

Yugi stopped in front of the desk Atem was sitting at. Atem didn't even have much time to react before Yugi grabbed his face and got close to him.

The thought that he was grabbing _Atem's_ face, the person who he was hopelessly infatuated with, hadn't even crossed his mind. The only thing Yugi could even think about was that Atem was hurt.

"What happened? Are you okay?" He rushed out into the other boy's face. Atem merely groaned in response.

Joey and Tristan, who were still behind them, had begun to walk out of the room. "Yugi! We'll catch ya later, okay? Just call me when you get out." Yugi heard Joey call out, but he hadn't even heard him through his haze of worry.

When Atem didn't really say anything, just kind of looked surprised, Yugi examined his face further.

"You even look sick! Are you running a fever?"

"Yugi, I'm okay. I'm not si-" Atem attempted to say, but before he could finish, he was shocked speechless when the shorter boy pressed his cheek against his forehead.

Atem hadn't even seen Yugi when he first sat down in his usual seat. He was, more or less, too focused on the ache in his head. Needless to say, he was quite surprised when he heard Yugi shout out his name and run over to him. Then grab his face and start assaulting him with questions. He hadn't even been able to get many words in, and now he felt the soft, warm skin of Yugi's cheek pressed against his forehead.

It seemed to finally catch up to Yugi that it was Atem that he was doing this to. The smaller boy moved away quickly from him.

"Oh jeez, I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. My mom used to always do that to me when I was little. Whenever I asked why she did that she would always tell me that it was easier to tell if I had a fever that way." Yugi realized he was rambling and closed his mouth. A blush began to surface on his face. Did he really just do that to _Atem?_ What was he thinking?

Atem almost sighed in disappointment when Yugi moved away. Then he realized, he really didn't want Yugi to move away. He had spent his entire day just trying to get within a few feet of the boy. He had been getting his ass kicked for it. He most definitely did _not_ like the fact Yugi just broke that contact. So, what should he do about it?

Atem raised a hand to "cough" into. After a few fake coughs he said, "I mean, uh, I am _so_ sick." He faked another cough. He then looked up at Yugi to see the boy staring at him in mild amusement and embarrassment.

The look of embarrassment on Yugi's face then turned into smirk as he raised an eyebrow at the display in front of him. "Do you need me to check?" He almost laughed when Atem began to nod.

"Uh huh."

Yugi then pressed his cheek back against Atem's forehead gently.

Atem felt his face heat up at the touch; he was sure it was red. Yugi just felt so damn soft. How could he have even considered giving up before?

"You know Atem, I think you might actually be sick. You feel really hot." Yugi told him. His tone sounded slightly concerned. Atem just mumbled something incoherently.

Unfortunately, Yugi was quick to move away from Atem yet again when they both heard the sound of footsteps come back through the door.

"Hey, Yug', just forgot to say, Tristan and me will be at the pizza parlor. Ya want anything?" Joey's voice permeated the area of the classroom like a scratched up record player. Atem had never found a voice so damn annoying in his entire life. He glared venomously at the person that interrupted them. Honestly, how many times was something like this going to happen to him and Yugi? Could they ever just be left alone? He wanted to feel Yugi more, _damn it_.

He watched as Yugi turned around to face his friend. "U-uh, sure."

Joey had smiled at Yugi at first, but after catching the dark, murderous eyes of Atem, his face paled. "So yeah, I'm gonna go. See ya soon." The blond then scrambled out of the room.

There was a moment of silence as Yugi turned back around and fidgeted slightly where he stood. The mood had suddenly turned awkward. Atem resisted the urge to pout.

"So, um... our teacher told me to tell you that you had to clean up this room for your detention..." Yugi started, but then turned his gaze down at the floor. Atem sighed.

"Right." Life just wasn't fair.

Yugi looked back up to him. He seemed a little hesitant, but started out quietly, "Are you going to be okay?" Atem smiled despite his annoyed mood.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Nothing I can't handle." His smile turned into a smirk. "Thank you for checking to make sure I wasn't sick. Don't know what I would have done without you." Yugi blushed cutely, then started to smile.

"You're welcome." After he said this, Yugi began to turn around to head out of the classroom. Atem watched him go feeling a little deflated. That freaking Joey kid just had to pop up at the most inopportune time. It figured. Though he supposed it could have gone worse.

Then, before Atem really knew what was happening, Yugi had suddenly turned around and rushed back over to him. The smaller boy pressed his lips to Atem's forehead. He was left completely shocked. The moment felt so surreal.

"Be careful, Atem." Yugi mumbled against his heated skin. Then he moved away from him and smiled. Atem could do little more than stare at the boy in front of him in a pleased daze. Yugi blushed again as he turned around and hurried out of the classroom.

Atem sat there for a long moment. A grin broke out onto his face. Perhaps this hadn't been such a bad day after all.

* * *

 _Author's note:_

 _I hope you liked this chapter! I know it took me awhile to update this, I apologize for the delay. D: If you fancied it, leave me a review! It would be most appreciated._


	7. Let's hang out

_Prepare yourselves for dorkiness. That is all._

* * *

Atem was seated in his homeroom class twiddling his thumbs, but not in boredom, in contemplation. He was a man on a mission. The man with a plan. The man with a light bulb so bright above his head even Thomas Edison would have been impressed. Well, okay, he didn't have a plan, but he was working on it.

After getting his ass thoroughly handed to him a couple of weeks ago, and then kissed by an angel, Atem had made it his goal to get closer to said angel. Unfortunately, it seemed Yugi had other plans, for he had been avoiding Atem ever since. Well, he didn't know for sure if Yugi was avoiding him or not. It had just seemed that way, because whenever he attempted to approach the boy, he would just run away.

The only reason Atem could think of for why Yugi might be avoiding him is because of that kiss. Perhaps the boy was embarrassed? Atem thought that silly, for he was the one who had kept trying to get Yugi to put his face on him. That was a clear indication that he wanted that to happen, right? Or was there some "courting ritual" rule that he had inadvertently broken? Maybe he blinked too much or something.

Whatever the case may be, he knew he had to get Yugi to talk to him. And today was the perfect day to do that, because today was the day he had finally been let off from being grounded, and had his phone returned.

 _But_ , before he could go calling Yugi up and blabbering all about his secret crush on the boy, he had to think of a suitable game plan.

"Hey, Atem."

The sudden voice crashed his train of thought. He looked up and noticed Seto was standing in front of his desk. Seto took a seat in a vacant chair to Atem's right.

"Hi..." Atem started hesitantly. Seto didn't usually just walk up to him and engage in conversation. It was much too social a task for the cynical boy.

Atem watched as Seto pulled out a hand-held console device from a briefcase he had placed on top of the desk. He then handed it to Atem. "Here, try this out." He told him.

Atem took the device from Seto's hands and opened it up. After he had turned it on, a little animation sequence flashed across the small screen. It was of different looking dragons that were battling each other. He stared at it curiously a moment.

"A new game?"

Seto nodded beside him. "It's a game that I was on the developing team of. It just officially launched today. I wanted you to try it and give me your opinion. Since, of course, you play all sorts of games."

Atem clicked a few buttons and navigated through the opening menu. "I see."

"It'll be the first game I ever officially had my hand in making. If this game is as successful as it should be, I'll be one step closer to renovating my stepfather's company."

The tanned boy looked over at his friend. Seto had an arrogant smirk on his face. "Uh huh."

Seto sent him a glare as he said, "Your face looks unusually vacant today."

Atem returned the glare. "And you're unusually chatty today. Looks like we're both taking a step outside of our comfort zone." Seto grunted in response.

The device in Atem's hands lit up as the sound of a roar of a dragon blasted through the small speakers when he created a new game. Some words flashed across the screen, _"Create your dragon!"_ Several options were offered as he sorted through them.

Seto watched him a moment before he spoke up in what sounded like excitement, but would have sounded like an uninterested newscaster making a comment about the weather to the untrained ear. "You start out making a personalized dragon that you can train and pit against other peoples' dragons. There's an online feature where you can battle other peoples' dragons from other parts of the world as well."

Atem merely nodded. The taller boy stared at him for another moment before he blurted out more information. "There are mini games you can play too. Where you can earn money and purchase special weapons and different abilities that your dragon otherwise can't learn on its own."

"Sounds pretty neat." Atem replied even though he was barely listening to the other boy. He was still trying to think of something to say to Yugi. Maybe they could hang out. He had asked the shorter boy if he wanted to hang out before. Actually, that would be perfect. Now he just had to think about where they could go.

"And, there's an adventure mode where you can find rare abilities and other dragons that you can persuade to join your team. You can trade these items and dragons with others using the online feature."

"Uh huh." He definitely couldn't take Yugi to the theater. That was a definite nope.

"There's also a breeding feature in the game where you can create stronger dragons with higher potential stats."

"Cool." A restaurant. Yes, that could work. Wait, no, no, no. That would seem way too much like a date, right? He wanted this first experience to seem like a casual, relaxed thing. There had to be something else.

"And there's also a co-op mode where you can join your friends in a co-op exclusive adventure to find rare items."

What if he took Yugi to his house. Houses were the epitome of casual, yeah? That settled it then. He would call Yugi and invite him over to his house. It would be the perfect time since his father would be out all day on business.

"Atem...?"

If he was going to invite Yugi over to his house, he would need some time to prepare. Since he would be the host, he needed to make sure he had some kind of refreshments on hand. He would have to inform one of the maids to bring snacks and drinks. He needed to think of something for them to do as well. Games. Games were good. Maybe a movie? Was that too borderline of being romantic? He guessed it would depend on the film.

"Are you even listening to me?"

 _Got it!_ _A horror film. That is the furthest removed genre from romance you can get. Perfect._

" _Atem._ "

Atem turned his head to Seto when the boy nearly shouted. "Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry."

He watched Seto shake his head. "Tell me what you think of it whenever you break out of that love-struck trance." The brunet said as he stood up from the desk. He gave one last look at Atem's concentrated face before he rolled his eyes and walked away.

Atem continued to sit and contemplate on things he and Yugi could do.

* * *

It wasn't much later before school let out, and kids rushed out the doubled-doors of the school in a frenzy. Yugi walked out far more calmly than his peers. Beside him, Joey, Tristan and Tea stood.

Joey let out an exhausted yawn before he spoke. "Welp, what are we gonna do today guys?"

Tristan seemed equally as weary. "Take a damn nap. Listening to those old people yap just makes me tired as hell."

"I hear that." Joey agreed.

Tea rolled her eyes at her two friends before she spoke. "You guys are ridiculous. It wasn't worse than any other day."

Yugi found himself barely able to keep his attention on the three. Mostly because he couldn't get Atem out of mind for even just five minutes. He had been daydreaming about the boy so much that he was beginning to lose interest in pretty much everything he used to do. It was kind of making him worried. He remembered all too well the conversation he and his friends had had in the pizza parlor a few weeks ago. He thought, maybe, if he avoided his crush for awhile, the attraction would lessen. That, however, was proving to not be the case. In fact, now he couldn't stop thinking about him at all.

It's not that he didn't want to hang out with his friends, but he couldn't force himself to want to either. It was frustrating.

That kiss he had given Atem only served to fuel his desire all the more. Especially considering Atem had kind of instigated it. He was beginning to be completely consumed by this infatuation, and there was honestly nothing he could do about it. He didn't _want_ to do anything about it. Nobody could fault him for not trying to hang out with his friends, right?

No, that's awful. How could he even think that? They had been with him far longer than Atem had. But... couldn't he just... _talk_ to Atem? Just every now and again.

The feeling of guilt surfaced and nagged at his love-struck heart.

"Yug'?" He heard Joey question from beside him followed by a nudge to his side. Yugi looked up at the blond's face. "You all right there, bud?"

Yugi nodded. "Yeah, sorry. Was just thinking about something." When Joey's face lit up with a grin, Yugi only felt worse. How could he even have considered ditching them?

"Where do you wanna go?"

The shorter boy shrugged. "Um, I don't know. The arcade?"

Tristan and Joey looked pumped at the mention of the arcade. "Sounds like a plan!" Tristan called out.

And so the four of them walked the distance to the arcade. Tristan, Joey and Tea talked the whole way while Yugi remained mostly silent unless one of them directed a question to him. Whenever they started to become suspicious of his out-of-character silence, he would start up a conversation about something random to get them talking until eventually he faded out of it. He knew he was probably being silly, but he couldn't help thinking about his dilemma.

He should be allowed to have other friends. Just because he didn't hang out with them exclusively didn't mean he didn't care for them any less than he always did. Then that feeling of guilt would creep its way back in and inform him that, unlike his friends, he had a major crush on Atem. With the way he had been thinking these past few days, of nothing _but_ Atem, Yugi was worried that if he did start hanging out with the tanned, sex God he might _only_ want to be around him _._

He was scared he'd end up like one of those characters off of those dramatic soap operas. That one friend who fell in love and ended up ignoring all of their friends to be around that one person.

 _Don't be that friend._

Yugi felt like he had a storm cloud hovering over his head. He let out a despondent sigh as he kept his eyes focused on the ground.

"Hey! I've seen this before!" Yugi looked up when he heard Joey shout.

The four of them had made it to the arcade. Yugi hadn't even noticed. They were standing right outside of it, but an advertisement in the window seemed to catch Joey by surprise.

Tea stared at it quizzically with a quirked eyebrow. "I've never seen it." She said as she examined the poster.

It was of a game that seemed to be new. It had several dragons fighting on the front of it.

"I swear I've seen it! It was... ah... Oh! I remember. It was when we were at the pizza parlor a few weeks ago." Joey exclaimed in excitement.

Tristan put a finger to his temple in a gesture of contemplation. It seemed he was able to recall the moment Joey was speaking of. "Oh, you mean when you randomly jumped up and shouted for no reason?"

Joey grumbled in annoyance. "It wasn't for no reason. I saw dat!" Joey said as he pointed towards the poster. He then got much closer to it and leaned his face in. He trailed his eyes over it until something seemed to surprise him. The blond then pointed at something towards the bottom of the poster. "I _knew_ it. See!? I wasn't screamin' for no reason. Kaiba made dis game."

The other three leaned in close to examine the spot Joey was pointing to. Sure enough, Seto Kaiba's name was printed at the bottom as one of the lead developers in the making of the game.

"Oh wow, Joey. How did you know Kaiba made this game when you saw it the first time?" Tea spoke up in surprise.

Joey stood up straight and looked proud as he said, "It's like a sixth sense. I could tell just by lookin' at it that Kaiba was all over it."

Tristan eyed the blond out of the corners of his eyes with an unimpressed expression. "So what you're saying is, you can tell when Kaiba is involved in something?" Joey nodded smugly. Tristan shook his head. "That is by far _the most_ useless superpower ever. If you were in X-Men, you'd be the first to die."

Joey glared over at the brunet. "Hey, shut up Tristan!"

"It looks pretty cool." Yugi spoke up. He could really use a distraction right now.

Tea looked over at Yugi to address him. "Since your grandpa owns a game shop, do you know if he has copies of this game?"

Yugi looked over to her and shrugged. "Not sure. He might." Joey looked even more pumped than he did before.

"All right! Change of plans! Next stop, Yugi's house!" The blond shouted as he started to walk off. Tea and Tristan followed shortly behind him. Yugi lagged behind a little, feeling resigned.

* * *

"You're in luck kids! I just so happened to get a shipment of that game today." Yugi's grandfather spoke with enthusiasm.

The four of them were huddled around the counter to the Kame Game shop owned by Solomon Muto. In front of their faces, copies of the newest game to hit the market were splayed out. Joey looked like he was nearly salivating in anticipation as he reached for one of the copies. Even Yugi felt a lot of his earlier gloominess lighten up at getting the chance to try out this new game. Before Joey could get his hands on one of the cases, his hand was smacked away.

"Hey! Just because I know you kids doesn't mean you can just take them for free. I'm running a business here."

Joey looked exasperated. "Aw, c'mon gramps! How about a little discount?"

"Absolutely not. It wouldn't be fair to others. Besides, I'm not going to be the one condoning you getting everything in life handed to you without hard work and dedication."

"B-but! I don't got any money." Joey whined as he began to look completely deflated.

Yugi sighed as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened it up to see he just barely had enough for four copies.

 _Welp, there goes my money._

He handed it over to his grandfather who looked sympathetic considering Yugi had made that money through working with the old man in the first place. With the games paid for, Joey lifted up his brand new copy of Dragons Rising.

The blond kissed the cover with an audible smacking sound. "Oh baby, I can't wait to play you."

"It does look really cute." Tea said as she read the back of the case on what kind of content was in the game.

Tristan was the first one to start heading up the stairs to Yugi's room. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's try it out." He exclaimed.

So the four of them marched upstairs and pulled out their hand-held gaming devices to try out the new game. Yugi thought it only polite to sit on the floor, and offered the bed to his guests. Tea seated herself on the edge of Yugi's bed while Tristan sat backwards on Yugi's desk chair. Joey declined the offer of the bed and sat beside Yugi just to fall all over the smaller boy and point out all of the cool things in the title sequence.

The game turned out to be quite entertaining. After they made their little dragons, they went on an adventure in the game and found more dragons and other little things.

"Oh, hey. I persuaded an earth affinity dragon to join me." Yugi spoke in excitement.

"What?! Man... that's no fair. Poor Red-eyes is lonely. That stingy water dragon didn't wanna join my team." Joey said beside the multicolored haired teen with a pout.

"That's because it knew your team sucked." Tristan teased. Joey glared over at the other boy.

Tea seemed really pleased as she spoke in glee. "Oh! I got a fairy dragon to join me. Aw, it's so cute."

"Yeah, yeah. Rub it in guys." Joey pouted.

Yugi smiled at his best friend. The game had turned out to be just the distraction Yugi needed. Atem wasn't even on his mind any more as his attention was stolen by the flashy animations and addicting gameplay. At least, it was before his phone started to vibrate in his pocket. Yugi stared down at his pocket in confusion as he reached inside it to pull out his phone. Who would be calling him now? His eyes widened in shock when the small screen lit up to display his crush's name.

 _Atem? Holy crap, Atem is calling! I have to answer it!_

Yugi looked up and around the room. None of his friends had noticed his surprise. They were too absorbed in the game.

"Hey guys, I'm gonna go to the bathroom real quick." Yugi spoke as he stood up quickly.

"'Kay." Joey spoke up without even glancing up from the small screen.

Yugi then ran out of the room quickly. He hurried down the stairs and into a little bathroom on the first floor. There was a bathroom upstairs, but he didn't want to chance his friends overhearing him. He didn't know why he didn't want them to hear him, but he preferred it this way. He almost felt like he was doing something illegal.

Yugi answered the call and put the phone next to his ear. "H-hello?"

The deep, sultry sound of Atem's voice came through the receiver. "Hey Yugi."

That feeling of fluttery butterflies in the pit of his stomach was beginning to surface. "Wh-what's up?" His attempt to sound casual was failing spectacularly. He only hoped Atem didn't notice.

"Nothing much. That's the reason I called, actually. I was wondering if, maybe, you wanted to hang out?"

Yugi felt his heart beat against his ribs a little more harshly. Hang out? With Atem?

"Right now?" Yugi asked as he felt excitement start to build up inside him.

"That's what I was hoping for. If you're interested?"

His face heated up as he looked down to assess himself. He always wore his school uniform. If he was going to hang out with Atem, he'd need to at least try to look presentable. He still could hardly believe it. Atem wanted to hang out with him! Actually called him and everything. He'd need to get dressed immediately.

"Yes! I'd like to." His voice came out a little too eager.

Atem just laughed. "Cool. I was hoping we could chill at my house."

Yugi waved air into his face to help relieve the heat in his cheeks. Atem was inviting him... _to his house?_ He needed to get changed. Right now.

He then pushed open the door to the bathroom and rushed upstairs. He was about to push open his bedroom door when he heard the laughter of his friends. Yugi froze in place. He had forgotten they were even there.

 _Oh crap._

What would he tell them? _"Oh sorry, you guys need to get lost now. I'm hanging out with Atem."_ Definitely not.

"Yugi?" He heard Atem's voice through his phone.

"Oh, uh, yes! That would be great. I just need some time to get ready. And I need to figure out how to get there. I don't think I know your address."

"I can pick you up. Where do you live?"

Yugi felt embarrassed and thrilled at the same time. "Uhm, the Kame Game shop."

"Ah, I know where that is. I pass by it all the time. I didn't know you lived there. When should I pick you up?"

"Uh..." Yugi began to panic a little. He looked through the crack in his doorway at his friends. He was faced with a choice. Should he tell Atem that he couldn't actually make it, or tell his friends he needed to go? "In thirty minutes maybe?"

"All right. See you soon Yugi." The conversation then ended.

Yugi was already starting to feel guilty. Now what would he say to them? He had to get them to go or else he wouldn't even have time to change. He could tell them the truth, that he made plans. That sounded pretty lame though considering he was already with _them_. It was still the most honorable thing to tell them. Yugi took a deep breath and stepped inside.

Joey was the first one to look over at him at the sound of the door. "'Bout time. Everything come out okay in there?"

Tea made a face at the blond. "Joey, that's disgusting."

Yugi placed his hands in front of himself and began to fidget. This was going to be difficult. "Um, guys?" His voice got their attention as the three turned to look at him. It only made him fidget more. "I'm uh... not feeling too well. I think I'd like to lay down for a bit." He couldn't do it. He didn't want to disappoint them by telling them the truth.

Joey looked concerned. "You all right?"

Yugi nodded slightly. "I think I'm just a little tired."

Tea stood up from the bed. "You better get some rest then. We'll see you tomorrow?" Yugi gave another nod at her inquiry.

"Yeah, for sure."

Tristan stretched on Yugi's desk chair before he stood up as well. "All right. See ya later Yug'."

And with that, the three of them left his house to leave him alone in his room. Yugi walked over to his bed and plopped down on it. He had a feeling he might end up regretting lying to them like that, but it would only be for today, right? How often had he gotten a chance to hang out with Atem? Never. It would only be today.

Yugi lifted his phone to check the time. Fifteen minutes had already passed. He quickly stood up from his bed and rushed over to his closet. He needed to get changed fast.

After looking through his small selection a few times, he settled on a casual look. It wasn't like this was going to be a date or something. He didn't have to dress fancy. It might be weird if he did. Yugi was fiddling with the belt of his jeans when he heard knocking at the door. He grabbed his backpack that he filled with things he might could do with Atem, then quickly rushed down the stairs to call out, "I'll get it!"

Yugi opened it, and there in the doorway, in all of his handsome, magnetic, sexy glory, stood Atem.

"Hey." The tanned boy started casually.

Yugi found himself becoming shy. "Hey." His voice sounded pathetically timid to his own ears.

Atem didn't seem to notice, or maybe he just didn't mind. "You ready to go?"

Yugi nodded. "Yeah, just a sec." He then turned around towards his grandfather. "Grandpa! I'm going to go out for a bit!"

He walked out with Atem as soon as his grandfather gave the okay. He closed the door behind himself, and off they went.

The first thing Yugi had noticed was how expensive Atem's car looked. It was black and sleek and Yugi didn't want to even get near it let alone get in it. Atem had walked around to the driver's side – completely oblivious to Yugi's dilemma. The smaller boy stood there for a moment. He felt so awkward and out of place.

When Atem noticed Yugi had still not gotten into the car, he moved his head to look out of the passenger side window. "Coming?" Yugi swallowed down a lump in his throat and hesitantly moved closer to the car. He gingerly opened the door and sat down in a leather seat. The interior smelled of leather and woodsy cologne. It was so... so _Atem._ He almost felt like he was intruding upon something not often seen. A private sanctuary. When the car started up, it almost sounded like a purr. A low hum. As Atem backed out and started the drive to his house, Yugi noted just how smooth the ride was. It then occurred to him that this car was probably worth more than double the cost of his house.

To say Yugi was nervous would be a definite understatement. He was positively anxious. He was as stiff as a board sitting in that leather seat. It almost felt like he was in the presence of a movie star. He took an awkward glance at Atem to see the other boy looking somewhat uncomfortable as well. They came to a stop at a red light. Atem looked over at Yugi.

"Um, do you... want to listen to music or something?" The tan-skinned boy asked as he moved his hand to turn on the radio to his car.

Yugi nodded mechanically. "Sure."

So the radio was turned on. Music was quick to come blaring through the speakers of the car. The tune, however, surprised Yugi, because it was of Taylor Swift's Shake it Off. He blinked in surprise. Atem seemed equally as shocked, and was quick to turn it off.

"Uh..." Atem started followed by an embarrassed chuckle. "We're almost there anyway. No need for music." When Yugi turned to look at Atem, he saw the taller boy's face colored a deep red.

* * *

It wasn't much longer before the two of them made it to Atem's house, which Atem was extremely grateful for. The start of this little get-together had gone so smoothly. But then he just _had_ to start slipping as soon as Yugi was next to him for more than ten minutes. How the hell had his radio been on that pop station anyway?

Atem opened his car door and stepped out. Yugi followed a lot more slowly. He looked over at the shorter boy to see him staring up at the rather extravagant looking house with an almost terrified look.

"Are you all right?" Atem asked of the other.

Yugi turned to him with a sheepish look. "Uh, yeah. Sorry. I'm just not used to uh, really expensive things."

Atem stared at the boy for a moment. "Oh." He hadn't even considered Yugi might feel a bit intimidated by his wealth. He would have to try make sure Yugi was comfortable. Maybe he should play down the situation. Act like it wasn't a big deal. "It's nothing that special. Our vacation home in Cairo is bigger." Wait, no. That didn't come out right.

Yugi's eyes became comically wide as he froze in place like a stone statue.

"I mean, uh, we don't really use the vacation house that much. It's just kind of there. Wait... shit." _For the love of everything holy, just stop speaking._

Poor Yugi looked near about to have a heart attack.

Atem cleared his throat. "Let's go inside. I'll show you around." He walked for a bit before he noticed Yugi was not following him. He turned around to see Yugi was standing in the same place he'd been left in the driveway. His eyes fixated on the perfectly manicured grass as if it might attack him. "It's okay, you can walk on it. We're not going to charge you a fine for stepping on our lawn." Yugi did not look convinced.

 _Well now, this is going swimmingly._

Atem sighed before he walked back over to Yugi. The shorter boy stared up at him with unease. Atem tried his best at a reassuring smile as he reached for Yugi's hand to grasp it in his own. He gently tugged him along inside the house.

Atem looked behind himself to see Yugi's eyes now trained on their joined hands. If the shorter boy looked like he was going to have a heart attack before, he looked like he was close to hyperventilating now. Maybe he should try distracting the boy. "Yeah, so, this is the living room." He said as he gestured towards a spacious area of modern design that they passed. "The kitchen." The farther they walked, the closer Yugi got to him. It seemed he was even more intimidated now that he was actually inside the house. Atem felt a blush coming on. "The entertainment room..." Yugi moved so close he was he practically hugging him. It was very distracting. "My room is upstairs."

He led the way upstairs (somehow with Yugi practically glued to his side, it was quite the feat... not that he was complaining) to his room. He opened the door and gestured inside. "This is my room." He waited for Yugi to step inside, but the boy just looked lost. He noticed he was still holding onto Yugi's hand. He felt his face heat up even more and let go. "After you." When Yugi merely took a slow, awkward step forward, Atem gently pushed him inside and closed the door behind them.

Atem walked around the smaller boy to pick up some of the clothes he had left on the floor just to tidy up a bit. It hadn't bothered him before. He figured he shouldn't look like he was trying too hard when this was supposed to be a casual thing, but now that Yugi was here he just felt like a slob. He threw the clothes in his closet. "You can sit wherever you'd like. And you can put that bag down wherever you want." He said over his shoulder.

When he turned around, he saw Yugi standing in the same spot with his bag resting on his shoes in front of him looking around the spacious room uneasily.

Atem scratched idly at his multicolored locks. This had sounded like such a good idea in his head. Yugi hadn't even said a word since they arrived.

"I'll take that." Atem said as he walked over to Yugi to pick up the bag. He met with no resistance. He then placed it on his desk. He turned around to face Yugi again. The other teen looked so unsure and nervous. Atem had to think of something to do that would make him more comfortable. What did he have planned again? Oh right, the movie. "Do you want to watch a movie?"

He was pleased when Yugi finally spoke up to say, "Okay."

Atem hurriedly made his way to his flat-screened, fifty-two inch TV and picked up the DVD case that he had pulled out prior for this occasion. He popped it into the DVD player before turning back around to look at Yugi. "You can sit wherever you want." He watched Yugi look around for a moment before he took a hesitant step forward to stand near the king-sized bed. Atem sighed, then he moved over to Yugi and pushed him down to get him to actually sit on it. Yugi allowed himself to plop down onto the comforter. Atem raised a hand to rub idly at the back of his neck. "Um, do you... want any snacks or anything? A drink maybe?" Yugi just stared up at him with his innocent, doe-eyed face. "...I'll have some brought up just in case." Atem then made his way to his door to open it and call out, "Mana, can you have some snacks and drinks brought up here please?"

"Coming right up sir, Atem sir!" Came the bubbly reply of a chipper sounding feminine voice.

Atem closed the door and walked back over to his TV. He picked up the remote and sat on his bed a little ways from Yugi. "I just picked out whatever." Yes, he definitely hadn't planned this out extensively beforehand. Of course not. Once the opening sequence started up, and he pressed play on the menu, he hadn't even noticed the horrified look that flashed over Yugi's face.

He had picked a pretty notorious horror movie that was, supposedly, the scariest movie of the year. He didn't believe it, honestly. Horror never really got to him, but he figured he'd at least give the movie a chance. If it did manage to scare him, he'd be impressed.

Unfortunately for Atem, the movie had turned out exactly like he had expected – boring. He could never understand why the victims were always so stupid. They were always so quick to walk towards a noise, or call out stupidly, "Hello?" Honestly, they couldn't be any more dumb. Then there was always that one person who suddenly became clumsy as shit when everyone was trying to get away from the killer. Horror movies were ridiculous.

Atem looked away from the screen to look to his left to see Yugi had gotten much closer to him. His large, violet eyes stared at the screen in nothing short of terror. When there was a flash of a grisly scene, Yugi jumped and grabbed onto Atem's arm. Atem blinked a few times in surprise. Was Yugi really afraid of this cheesy movie? He hadn't even thought of that possibility. Since he and everyone else he knew, Seto, Isis, Marik, weren't scared of horror at all, he kind of just assumed Yugi wouldn't be either.

A furious blush colored Atem's cheeks when Yugi buried his face into his side when one of the characters in the movie screamed. Yugi let out a miserable whimper. Atem reached out to pat Yugi on the shoulder in a comforting gesture. "H-hey there. It's okay. It's just a movie." This seemed to do very little in coaxing Yugi to get out of his hiding spot in Atem's armpit. "It's all just special effects and fake blood."

Yugi took a peek over at the screen just in time to see another horrendous scene of someone getting brutally murdered. The shorter boy nearly jumped into Atem's lap.

Atem wanted to slap himself. He couldn't have picked something a little less horrific? Where did he get such a stupid idea to pick a horror movie of all genres to choose from? He could have picked an action/thriller or something, but no, he had to go and pick the most terrifying, rated R horror movie he could find.

 _Why don't you get him to watch a supernatural, paranormal activity movie next?_

Atem sighed in irritation. He should probably turn it off. Just when he was about to stand up, the door to his room swung open.

"Atem sir! I brought you your snacks!"

The sudden voice startled Yugi so horribly he let out a horrified shriek. He then jumped onto Atem's lap and wrapped his arms around him while he buried his face into the crook of his neck. He began to shake his head and mumbled out, " _No, no, no, no, no."_

The maid watched the scene unfold with a rueful smile. "Oopsie. Did I startle you?" When she noticed Atem's defeated face, she tip-toed over to his desk and placed a tray of snacks and drinks on top of it. "I'll just leave these right here." She then quietly backed out of the opened door and closed it as quietly as she could.

Atem ran a hand over his face. This was turning out to be not so great of an idea. He raised a hand to gently rub at Yugi's back. Had the circumstances been different, he would have been loving Yugi being all over him. Well, he still loved it, but he didn't want Yugi to be uncomfortable. It would be his luck that Yugi would leave and never talk to him again because he was such a crappy host. He didn't know why the thought had never occurred to him to ask what Yugi would have liked to have watched to avoid all of this.

"Yugi?" Atem asked quietly.

Yugi mumbled something incoherently in reply.

"I'll go turn it off." He gently unwrapped the arms from his neck. Yugi moved away from him to allow him stand up. He pressed the eject button on the DVD player. Atem stood back up with a sigh.

 _Welp, that was a bust. What's next?_

He turned around to see Yugi looked quite displeased. An unhappy frown was plastered onto his face. Atem began to panic a little. What if Yugi asked to go home? He had to think of something to make the boy more comfortable. A game! Yugi liked games.

Atem rushed over to his desk to start rummaging through the random junk on it. Maybe he had a pack of cards or something. Atem pulled out a drawer and found the hand-held device Seto had given him. He picked it up and tossed it onto his bed without much consideration.

Yugi had started to feel like this wasn't such a good idea. First riding in the overly expensive car, then actually seeing his crush's house. He had almost wanted to turn around and tell Atem he wanted to go home right then and there. When Atem had grabbed onto his hand, he had felt so darn shy that he had just allowed himself to be led into the _castle_. Had he so much as left a fingerprint on even one of those exotic looking paintings or trinkets, he was sure he would have been paying off a debt that could have lasted him a lifetime.

Then he just felt even more shy when he was in Atem's room alone with him. It was like it had finally started to sink in just who he was with. _In his room_.

The scary movie did not help his nerves at all. It only served to embarrass him more when he couldn't stop himself from clinging desperately to the taller boy. He would have told him that maybe this wasn't a good idea, but this was _Atem_. He didn't want to be rude.

Thankfully, the movie had been turned off, but he still couldn't shake his displeasure at thoroughly embarrassing himself in front of his crush.

Then Atem had ran over to his desk looking like he had some kind of a plan. He had been tossing things around until the hand-held console had landed on the bed near Yugi. Yugi noticed it was the same one he had. He moved farther onto the bed and crawled over to pick it up. He then turned it over and popped the game out that was inside of it. To his surprise, it was the same game he had gotten earlier that day.

"You play Dragons Rising?" His words halted Atem's search. The dark skinned boy turned around to look over at him.

"Oh, yeah. I guess."

Yugi offered Atem a small, shy smile before he asked, "Do you want to play it with me?"

Atem looked a bit surprised for a moment before he smiled back. "Sure."

Yugi then pointed at his bag that was still sitting on top of Atem's desk. "I brought mine with me just in case. Since you said you played a lot of games."

Atem took hold of the bag and brought it with him over to his bed; all the while inwardly berating himself for not just playing a game in the first place.

Atem sat on the bed across from Yugi and handed him his bag. Yugi took it and pulled out his own game console.

The two ended up playing the game for hours without really paying attention to the time. Yugi had grown much more relaxed the more time that went by. He had even started to laugh and smile at little things, like when Atem started calling it a fluke whenever he beat him in a duel with their dragons. Atem had still smirked about it though, seemingly pleased that Yugi was finally able to relax.

Yugi was surprised several times, however, when Atem managed to beat him an equal number of times.

"What!? I totally had you. How did you possibly land a critical hit right at the one time I missed?" Yugi said with a pout.

Atem chuckled. "Someone sounds like a sore loser."

Yugi stuck his tongue out at the taller boy sitting in front of him. "Best fifteen out of twenty-nine."

Unfortunately for Yugi, he was still quite jittery from that scary movie. Whenever there was a random noise, he'd end up jolting upright. Every time he did, Atem would just smirk in that frustratingly annoying, yet sexy way of his and ask, "Do you need me to hold you, Yugi?"

To which Yugi replied, with a blush upon his face, "...best sixteen out of thirty-one."

It had taken a little bit, but Yugi found himself quite enjoying his time with Atem. He was glad he had decided to come.

"I haven't tried the trading feature yet, do you want to trade a dragon with me?" Yugi asked after their umpteenth duel had ended.

Atem smiled. "Sure."

And so they prepared their games for trading, and Yugi picked the one dragon he had gotten earlier that day to trade. Before he was able to send it over, a little message box popped up on his screen prompting him to send a message to the receiver of the new dragon. He stared at it a moment, then he started to type in something random, but before he hit confirm, he looked up at Atem who was still looking down at his game in contemplation. The dark skinned boy just looked so... cute. A dorky idea came to Yugi's mind. He erased his previous message, then started to type in,

 _"You're really cute."_

Yugi felt embarrassed already just for typing that. He was about to erase the message when he accidentally hit the A button instead. Yugi stared at his screen in a mix of embarrassment and shock.

He heard Atem let out a, "Hm?" and dared to look up at the other. Atem looked like he was fighting not to smile or laugh, and was failing quite spectacularly. Yugi felt his face heat up considerably. Before he could say anything in his defense, another little message popped up on his screen followed by a ding to signal he had received something. Atem had sent him a dragon. There was a message that came along with it.

 _"Can I kiss you?"_

Yugi stared at it with wide eyes. If he thought his face was hot before, it felt like it was on fire now. He looked up when he felt a shift on the bed. Atem hovered right in front of his face. His eyes half-lidded as he asked, "Can I?" Yugi could hear his own heart thumping in his chest. Atem raised his hand to place on the side of Yugi's face, a thumb stroked his cheek. As Atem moved closer, Yugi felt like his heart was trying to run a marathon in under five minutes.

Atem stopped when his lips were just barely grazing the smaller boy's. Their breath mingled together. "You can stop this whenever you want." Atem whispered against Yugi's lips in a deep, sultry way. When Atem stalled for a moment too long, Yugi swallowed the lump in his throat and pressed into him. His eyes closed of their own accord, like an instinct.

It was soft, it was endearing and it was gentle. So tender and mild that it left Yugi wondering if it even happened when their lips parted. He let out a sigh.

Yugi slowly opened his eyes to see Atem do the same. They stared at each other for a moment.

"Yugi... there's something... I've been meaning to tell you."

Yugi felt an unceasing fluttery feeling in his stomach, while his heart tried to jump up in his throat. "What?"

Instead of speaking, Atem pressed his lips to Yugi's again. This time much more eagerly. It caused Yugi to fall back against the bed with Atem following on top of him. The taller boy kissed and licked and nipped at his lips as if Yugi was a drug he couldn't get enough of.

Those lips of Atem's began to wander to Yugi's cheeks, his chin, his nose, his forehead. Anywhere he could get. Then Atem began to travel along the line of his jaw, down the skin of his neck. Yugi let out a mewl, or perhaps a whimper, or maybe even a moan. Whatever it was, it was a sound he'd never heard himself make before.

Atem seemed to quite enjoy the sound as he started to use his teeth and tongue against the delicate skin of Yugi's neck.

The next sound Yugi made was something breathless and airy. It sounded like an aroused sigh. He couldn't help it, he just felt so hot. He began to grow tired of playing spectator to Atem's exploration, so he did something he had been wanting to do to Atem for quite a long time. He placed his palms flat against the tanned boy's exposed lower torso, and then ran them under his shirt and up his stomach to his chest.

Yugi felt his brain starting to slow down, because that had felt ten times better than what he had daydreamed it would be like. Atem was just so lean and fit and... _holy crap._

Atem let out a deep, throaty growl. He moved away from Yugi's neck to have his face hover over the smaller boy's. Yugi saw something amazing in those eyes. They were hazed over with want and need and _longing_.

Atem didn't have to say anything. Yugi understood the message perfectly clear.

It was then that Yugi's phone began to vibrate in his pocket. He had never felt more annoyed by something in his life. He debated with himself over answering it. Atem smirked over top of him. He leaned his face down very close to Yugi's to seductively whisper, "Answer your phone, Yugi."

Yugi gulped. If Atem kept talking to him like that, he'd do whatever the other boy wanted him to. Yugi reached inside of his pocket to pull out his phone. His grandfather was calling him. Yugi checked the time and gasped when he realized he'd been with Atem for something close to five hours.

Atem moved away from Yugi when he sat up quickly. "I've gotta get home!"

Atem resisted the urge to sigh at that. "Did I keep you too long?" He asked as he picked up his own phone and noticed it was well past 10:00 PM. "Oh, well damn."

Yugi grabbed his things and hopped off of the bed to return them to his bag. Atem followed more slowly behind him. "Crap. He's going to kill me." Yugi mumbled aloud.

Atem pulled his keys out of his pocket. "I'll drive you back home."

Yugi turned to stare at the taller boy. He then smiled shyly. "Thanks."

* * *

The ride back to the Kame Game shop was mostly silent save for the gentle hum of the engine. It left the two to quietly ponder on what had happened. Once they did make it to their destination, Yugi found it difficult to summon the will to get out of the car.

"So... I um, I had a good time." Yugi spoke up with a faint blush upon his cheeks. He knew he sounded awkward and cheesy, but he couldn't help it. He didn't want to leave just yet.

Atem seemed to be in the same boat as he looked over at Yugi with a blush of his own. "Yeah, we should really... do it again sometime."

Yugi smiled. He decided to try and diffuse some of the awkwardness with humor. "Will you actually take me out to dinner next time before you molest me?"

It worked, for Atem scoffed. His red eyes lit up with amusement. " _Me?_ Molest _you?_ As I recall, it was _your_ hands all over _me_."

Yugi giggled at that. "Please, with the way you were attacking my neck, I would've thought you were a vampire. The only thing you didn't do was sparkle."

Atem let out a boisterous laugh at the remark. He looked over to Yugi with a pleased smile. "Maybe I could take you to a restaurant. If you're up for it."

The shorter boy nodded. "I'd really like that."

The car continued to purr as a moment of silence fell between them once more. Yugi placed his hand on the handle of the door and pushed it open. He looked over to Atem and caught his eyes with his. "Til next time?"

Atem's eyes were filled with such sweet longing. Yugi felt like he could get lost in them if he stared too much longer. "Yeah, next time." Atem's words were gently whispered – filled with a subdued yearning.

Yugi moved to get farther out of the car, but stopped himself from completely leaving just yet. He felt his heart thump in his chest again as he pondered on what he'd like to do at that moment. He decided not to give his mind any time to over think it as he spun back around fast in the leather seat, and pressed his lips one last time into Atem's.

Atem was slow to react at first; surprised by the sudden action, but he soon reciprocated.

After a time, Yugi pulled away with the quiet sound of parting lips. He stared into those burning crimson eyes for a drawn out moment before he finally said, "I'll talk to you later, Atem."

The taller boy nodded slowly. "Yeah."

Yugi smiled, and then got out of the car and closed the door behind him.

Atem watched Yugi until his form disappeared inside the game shop.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _Yay for a kiss scene! Was it as dorky as I promised you?! I hope you enjoyed it. :D_


End file.
